- After 6 years on the run
The Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered that Faisal Maina, son of former pension reform task force boss Abdulrasheed Maina, be taken to a correctional centre to serve his seven-year jail term.
Justice James Omotosho gave the order after the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) filed an ex-parte motion moved by its lawyer, M.K. Hussain.
Faisal was re-arrested by the Department of State Services (DSS) on October 14 and handed over to the EFCC after he jumped bail and failed to attend his trial about six years ago.
He was arraigned in 2019 before the Federal High Court in Abuja on a three-count charge of money laundering and failure to make full disclosure in an asset declaration form.
His trial continued in his absence, and in October 2021, Justice Okon Abang, now an Appeal Court Judge, convicted him and sentenced him to five years’ imprisonment on counts 1 and 3 and 14 years on count 2.
The judge ordered that the counts run concurrently and that Faisal should be arrested anywhere he is found and taken to a correctional centre to serve his jail term.
In November 2022, the Court of Appeal upheld the conviction and reduced the sentence.
The Appeal Court ruled that the trial court should not have imposed the maximum sentence on a first-time offender.
Justice Omotosho said, in line with the Appeal Court decision dated November 24, 2022, the sentence shall be three years’ imprisonment in count 1, seven years in count 2, and three years in count 3, to run concurrently from October 14, the date he was re-arrested.
The court found that Faisal operated a fictitious account with the United Bank for Africa (UBA), through which his father allegedly laundered N58.1 million.
The money was paid into an account in the name of “Alhaji Faisal Farm 2” and withdrawn by Faisal and his father between October 2013 and June 2019.
His father, Abdulrasheed Maina, is a former chairman of the defunct Pension Reform Taskforce Team.
He was also convicted on a N2 billion money laundering charge and has since served his prison term.
With the latest order, Faisal will now begin his seven-year jail term, six years after he fled from justice.