A prosecution witness on Thursday told the Federal High Court in Abuja how socialite, Aisha Achimugu, allegedly collaborated with SunTrust Bank executives, Halima Buba and Innocent Mbagwu, to facilitate suspicious $12 million foreign exchange transactions that bypassed the formal financial system.
The first prosecution witness, Suleiman Ciroma, a bureau de change operator, said the transactions were carried out in March at SunTrust Bank branches in Abuja and Lagos.
He claimed that the managing director/chief executive of the bank, Halima Buba and its chief compliance officer, Innocent Mbagwu, supervised cash disbursements totaling $12 million within a span of 10 days.
Buba and Mbagwu were arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on June 13 on a six-count charge of money laundering.
The EFCC alleged that they facilitated separate cash payments of $3 million in both cities without routing them through a financial institution, in breach of money laundering laws.
The offences are said to contravene Sections 21(a), 2(1) and 19(1)(d) of the money laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022 and are punishable under Section 19(2)(b) of the same Act.
Both defendants pleaded not guilty and were granted bail in the sum of N100 million each.
While being led in evidence by EFCC counsel Ekele Iheanacho, Ciroma testified that he served as a middleman for foreign exchange transactions between the defendants and Achimugu, who was earlier arrested by the EFCC in April over allegations of money laundering and operating a Ponzi scheme.
“Sometime in March 2025, I received a call from Aisha Achimugu that she had some forex transactions at SunTrust Bank. I contacted the first defendant [Buba], and she confirmed she was aware,” Ciroma told the court.
He said the transactions began on March 10, when an agent named Iliya went to the Abuja branch of the bank to collect $1 million in cash, which was then swapped and paid into the Zenith Bank account of Oceangate Energy Oil & Gas, a company linked to Achimugu.
According to him, other agents, including Abdulkadir Mohammed and Kabiru, picked up additional cash installments in Abuja.
Ciroma said he also coordinated transactions in Lagos, with Mr Mbagwu handling the arrangements on that end.
In total, he said, $12 million was disbursed between March 10 and 20 and he personally made a profit of N15 million from facilitating the deals.
When asked the purpose of the transactions, Ciroma testified, “Aisha Achimugu told me that she wanted to buy an oil block and would need dollar inflows into the Oceangate Energy Oil & Gas account.”
He further tendered documents and WhatsApp messages between himself and Ms Buba, which the court admitted as Exhibit P1, despite objections from defence lawyers Johnson Usman and M.S. Ibrahim, both senior advocates of Nigeria, who said they would raise their arguments at the final address stage.
Justice Emeka Nwite adjourned further hearing in the case to July 18.
