Mr Suleiman Ciroma, the E c o n o m i c and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)’s witness, yesterday, told a Federal High Court in Abuja how the sum of $12 million was swapped in SunTrust Bank within 10 days.
Ciroma stated this while being led in evidence by EFCC’s lawyer, Ekele Iheanacho, (SAN), before Justice Emeka Nwite, in the ongoing trial of Halima Buba, the Managing Director/CEO of the bank.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Buba and her codefendant, Innocent Mbagwu, the Executive Director/Chief Compliance Officer of SunTrust Bank, are being prosecuted on money laundering offences to the tune of $12 million.
The duo, in a sixcount charge, was leged to have aided highvalue cash transactions without routing them through a financial institution.
The offence is said to be contrary to Section 21(a), 2(1), and 9(1) (d) of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022, and punishable under Section 19(2)(b) of the same Act.
The defendants were, on June 13, arraigned by the anti-graft agency They, however, pleaded not guilty to the counts, and admitted to a N100 million bail with one surety, each in like sum.
Upon resumed hearing yesterday, Ciroma, the 1st prosecution witness (PW-1), told the court that he is a businessman and had worked as a Bureau De Change (BDC) operator before. “I have a travel agency,” he said. The witness, who identified Buba, said though he had never met Mbagwu one-on-one before, he said they talked on phone.
