Court of Appeal in Abuja has upheld the conviction of Faisal, Maina’s son, over money laundering
By Emma Ogbuehi
The Court of Appeal in Abuja has upheld the conviction of Faisal, the son of the jailed ex-Chairman of the defunct Pension Reform Taskforce Team (PRTT), Abdulrasheed Maina, for conspiracy and money laundering.
In a judgment on Thursday, a three-member panel of the appellate court however reduced his term of imprisonment from 14 years to seven years on the grounds that he is first- time offender.
In the lead judgment by Justice Ugochukwu Anthony Ogakwu, the court held that Justice Okon Abang of the Federal High Court, Abuja was right to have convicted Faisal.
It was of the view that being a first-time offender, the trial court ought not to have handed the convict the maximum punishment under the law.
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Abang, had in October 2021, found Faisal guilty on a three-count money laundering charge the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, preferred against him.
The Court held that the anti-graft agency successfully established that Faisal, operated a fictitious bank account with the United Bank for Africa, UBA, through which his father, Maina, laundered the sum of N58.1million.
It noted that the said fund which was deposited into the account that was operated in the name of Alhaji Faisal Farm 2, was sequentially withdrawn by the Defendant and his father, between October 2013 and June 2019.
Justice Abang said he was satisfied that the EFCC proved all the essential ingredients of the charge, stressing that the Defendant reasonably ought to have known that inflows into the bank account formed proceeds of an unlawful act of corruption by his father.
While the court sentenced the Defendant to 5 years in count 1 and 3 of the charge, he was sentenced to 14 years on count 2 of the charge.
The court held that the charge would run concurrently.
The court ordered that the company through which the fund was laundered, Alhaji Faisal Farm 2, be wound up, with funds in it forfeited to the government.