*Admits Operating With Revoked BDC Licence
A prosecution witness in the $12 million money laundering trial of SunTrust Bank Ltd Managing Director Halima Buba and her co-defendant Innocent Mbagwu contradicted himself under cross-examination on Friday, admitting that a key claim he made in his testimony that he informed the EFCC his Bureau De Change licence had been revoked was not contained in the written statement he made to the anti-graft agency.
Hassan Dantani, the Managing Director of Ashrab Corporate Forex and BDC Ltd and the third prosecution witness, also admitted to the Federal High Court in Abuja that he operated with a revoked licence, did not disclose the revocation to the people he sent to collect millions of dollars in cash, had no direct dealings or transactions with either defendant, and that neither Buba nor Mbagwu is a signatory to any of his company or personal accounts — testimony that raises fundamental questions about the strength of the EFCC’s case against the two bank executives.
Justice Emeka Nwite adjourned the matter to April 30 for continuation of trial.
The central moment of Friday’s proceedings came when defence counsel Johnson Usman SAN confronted Dantani with his own written statement to the EFCC, admitted into evidence as Exhibit D1.
A key issue in the case is whether the BDC used in the $12 million transaction had a valid operating licence at the time. The prosecution’s case rests partly on allegations that the defendants aided high-value cash transactions without proper routing through financial institutions. The status of the BDC’s licence is therefore directly relevant to the legality of the transactions.
Dantani initially maintained under oath that he had informed the EFCC during his investigation statement that his BDC licence had been revoked by the Central Bank of Nigeria in 2024.
“In the course of the investigation in the case, you made a statement to EFCC. In making the statement, did you tell EFCC that your BDC licence was revoked?” Usman asked.
“Yes, I did,” Dantani responded.
Usman then called for Exhibit D1 the witness’s own written statement and directed Dantani to pages 48 through 52.
“Look at Page 48 to 52 of Exhibit D1, is that your statement?” Usman asked.
Dantani confirmed it was.
Usman then asked the witness to read aloud to the court the specific portion of his statement where he disclosed the licence revocation.
After what the court record described as “a thorough check” of his entire statement, Dantani conceded: “I did not see it.”
“Therefore, I will be correct to say you did not state so at EFCC based on Exhibit D1, that your licence has been revoked?” Usman pressed.
The witness admitted this was correct directly contradicting his earlier testimony and establishing that his written statement to the EFCC contained no mention of the licence revocation.
The cross-examination further revealed that Dantani’s BDC licence was revoked by the CBN in 2024 — before the March 2025 transactions at the centre of the case took place. Yet Dantani continued to operate, facilitating the movement of nearly $10 million through his companies despite lacking valid authorisation from the regulatory authority.
The witness admitted he did not tell the people he sent to collect US dollars from SunTrust Bank that his BDC licence had been revoked.
“As at the time you sent people to collect USD from SunTrust Bank, did you tell the people that when you go to collect the money, they should tell the person giving the money that your BDC licence had been revoked?” Usman asked.
Dantani admitted he did not, though he sought to explain that he had already reapplied for a licence in 2025 and that the application was still being processed, with his N500 million deposit remaining with the CBN.