The Federal High Court in Abuja has found the former chairman of the defunct Pension Reformed Task Team, Abdulrasheed Maina, guilty of money laundering.
The court likewise sentenced Maina to eight years in prison.
Giving his judgement on Monday, 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.
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These 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).
