The Court of Appeal in Abuja has upheld the conviction and eight-year sentence imposed on the former Chairman of the Pension Reform Task Team (PRTT), Abdulrasheed Maina for laundering about N2.1billion.
In a judgment on Friday, a three-member panel of the court unanimously affirmed the November 8, 2021 judgment given by Justice Okon Abang of the Federal High Court, Abuja, convicting and sentencing Maina.
Justice Justice Elfreda Williams-Daudu, in the lead judgment also affirmed the various interlocutory rulings delivered in the course of the trial at the Federal High Court, which Maina appealed against.
Justice Williams-Daudu, who resolved the two issues identified for determination against Maina, held that he was not denied a fair hearing by the trial court and that the prosecution proved its case beyond a reasonable doubt.
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On November 8, 2021, the Federal High Court in Abuja found Maina guilty of money laundering.
The court likewise sentenced Maina to eight years in prison.
Giving his judgement, Justice Okon Abang ruled that Maina is guilty of money laundering in the sum of N171,099,000.
Justice Abang also found him guilty of concealing his true identity as a signatory to accounts opened in two banks – UBA and Fidelity Bank – by using the identity of his family members without their knowledge.
The accounts had cash deposits of N300million, N500million, and N1.5billion
The court held that Maina stole funds meant for pensioners as he could not prove where he got them from.
Justice Abang also held that through Maina’s service as a civil servant, his salary and emoluments will not amount to the monies in these accounts.
The court also found Maina guilty for the purchase of a property in Abuja paid in cash in the sum of $1.4million, which is above the statutory threshold of N5million and without passing through a financial institution, describing it as a criminal offence.
Faisal, the 21-year-old son of Maina, was earlier jailed in absentia for 14 years.
The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja found him guilty of helping his father launder N58 million.
The trial judge, Okon Abang, found Faisal, who once jumped bail like his father until the Interpol arrested him in the Niger Republic, guilty on all the three counts of money laundering charge preferred against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).