Court sentences Maina’s son, Faisal, to 14 years imprisonment
The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, on Thursday, convicted and sentenced the son of former Chairman of the defunct Pension Reform Taskforce Team, Abdulrasheed Maina, Faisal, to 14 years imprisonment.
The Court, in judgement that was delivered by trial Justice Okon Abang, found Faisal guilty on a three-count money laundering charge the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, preferred against him.
It 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.
READ ALSO: Abdulrasheed Maina’s son, Faisal flees to US through Niger – EFCC tells court
The court 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said fund which was deposited into the account that was operated in the name of Alhaji Faisal Farm 2, was sequentially withdrawn by Defendant and his father, between October 2013 and June 2019.
The court also 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.
Justice Abang said he was satisfied that the EFCC proved all the essential ingredients of the charge, stressing that 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 Defendant to 5 years in counts 1 and 3 of the charge, he was sentenced to 14 years on counts 2 of the charge.
The court held that the charge would run concurrently, starting from Thursday.
The court ordered that the 21-year-old Faisal, who had since June 24, 2020, failed to appear for his trial, should be arrested anywhere he is found in Nigeria and remanded in any Correctional Service Center to serve his jail term immediately.
It further held that in the event that Defendant traced to anywhere outside the country, the Federal Government, “shall legally or lawfully commence extradition proceeds to bring him into the country to serve the jail term”.
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