The drama surrounding the trial of the former Chairman, defunct Pension Reformed Task Team (PRTT), Abdulrasheed Maina, and his son, Faisal, continued Thursday as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission told the court that the younger Maina has escaped to the United States of America.
Faisal sneaked into the Nigeria’s neighbour, Niger Republic through one of the country’s numerous, porous borders in Borno State, the EFCC said.
This was confirmed by Mohammed Abubakar , a lawyer with the EFCC, who spoke at the resumed hearing in Faisal’s money laundering trial before Justice Okon Abang of the Federal High Court, Abuja.
Faisal is being tried before the same judge with his father, but went underground, as his father did after they were granted bail.
The older Maina has escaped twice to evade prosecution. First he fled Nigeria, after he was declared wanted, and was later spotted in Dubai, from where he was brought back to Nigeria to stand trial, along with Faisal.
In the course of his trial, and following a bail granted them, Maina escaped a second time. Reports had it that he escaped on a motorcycle through one of the porous borders in the north. He was re-arrested in Niger Republic and has since been remanded in Kuje prison, Abuja.
On his part, Faisal remained elusive following the bail granted him, until EFCC said it got intelligence that he has since fled to the US where he is believed to be a citizen.
In a committal proceeding ruling, Justice Abang ordered among others, that Sani Dan-Galadima, a member of the House of Representatives representing Kaura-Namoda Federal Constituency of Zamfara, who stood surety for the fleeing Faisal, should forfeit his property, worth N60million, which he pledged as guarantee for the N60m bail bond he signed.
