Faisal Salisu DambattaThe Federal High Court in Abuja has fixed Oct. 16 for ruling on whether the Managing Director of SunTrust Bank, Halima Buba, can cross-examine an EFCC witness on issues raised while giving his evidence-in-chief.
Justice Emeka Nwite adjourned the trial on Monday following an objection raised by EFCC’s lawyer, Rotimi Oyedepo, SAN, against a question directed to the witness by Johnson Usman, SAN, who appeared for Buba in the money laundering charge.
Usman, while cross-examining Suleiman Ciroma, the owner of Funnacle BDC Ltd and the first prosecution witness (PW-I) had asked him to confirm to the court the names of those who collected the dollars from Mrs Aisha Achimugu, the MD of Oceangate Engineering Oil and Gas Ltd.
Earlier, Usman asked Ciroma to confirm that Mr Hassan Dantani is the MD/CEO of Ashrap Energy Oil Ltd, and the witness answered in the affirmative.
The PW-II also confirmed that Dantani is the MD/CEO of Ashrap BDC Ltd when he was asked by the lawyer.
“Confirm that Trimisi Mohammed Usman who you referred to earlier in your evidence-in-chief, he is the director of Triple A and D Nig Ltd,” Usman asked, and Ciroma answered in the affirmative.
“Confirm that Hassan Dantani of Ashrap BDC and Trimisi Mohammed Usman of Triple A and D BDC were those who collected the money (in USD) in this transaction from Aisha Achimugu,” Usman had asked the witness, but Oyedepo raised an objection to the question
The anti-graft agency’s lawyer argued that the fact in issue before the court, as contained in the charge, substantially bordered on allegations of cash transactions.
“The case of the prosecution as contained in the charge which the defendants are entitled to, is transactions conducted by Ashrap Energy and Oil Services Ltd.
“The core issue for determination in this case is that those transactions, which perforce exceeded the legal threshold, were conducted without going through financial institutions.
