A Federal High Court in Abuja on Monday sentenced a former chairman of the defunct Pension Reforms Task Team, Abdulrasheed Maina, to a total of 61 years’ imprisonment.
The court found him guilty on all the 12-count charges preferred against him.
Justice Okon Abang who ruled on the conviction said that the sentences are to run concurrently, starting from October 25, 2019, so Maina will be in jail for eight years.
The court convicted him on inducing staff of Fidelity Bank to open bank accounts for him without conducting due diligence, and money laundering.
This comes barely a month after his son, Faisal was sentenced to 24 years in jail for money laundering
In his ruling on Monday, Justice Abang in addition convicted the senior Maina for the concealment of his real identity as a signatory to accounts opened in Fidelity Bank and UBA, using his family members’ identities without their knowledge.
According to the prosecution (the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission), the accounts in question were said to have cash deposits of N300 million, N500 million, and N1.5 billion.
Justice Abang ruled that Maina stole monies meant for pensioners since he failed to account for how he got the funds found in his accounts.
According to the Justice, given Maina’s status as a civil servant, his earnings are not able to account for the amount of money found in those accounts.
The court further held that the EFCC had proved beyond reasonable doubt that Maina was indeed guilty of money laundering to the sum of N171,099,000.
According to the court, the amount of money formed part of the proceeds of an unlawful act
Justice Abang ruled that Maina and his company should restitute to the Federal Government about N2.1billion that was traced to their bank accounts, and after that, the company should be wound up.
Maina is also to forfeit two choice properties at Life camp and Jabi districts of Abuja, to the government. Also, a bulletproof car and a BMW 5 series car that was found on his premises are to be auctioned.
According to Justice Abang, the maximum sentence for the offence is 14 years, but he explained that he was moved by Maina’s plea for mercy.
