Maina Receives 8 years for money Laundering

Abdulrasheed Maina, a former chairman of the now-defunct Pension Reforms Task Team, was sentenced to 8years in jail on Monday by Justice Okon Abang of a Federal High Court in Abuja.

The court found him guilty of enticing Fidelity Bank employees to open bank accounts for him without due diligence and of money laundering.

Recall that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) arraigned Maina in 2019 — but he pleaded not guilty to a 12-count charge of money laundering totaling N2 billion.

Justice Abang, who delivered the verdict, also found him guilty of disguising his genuine identity as a signatory to accounts opened with UBA and Fidelity Bank by using the identities of his family members without their knowledge.

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These accounts were alleged to have N300 million, N500 million, and N1.5 billion in cash deposits.

The court ruled that Maina stole money designated for retirees since he couldn’t show where he acquired it.

Justice Abangyemoluments as a civil servant would not amount to the funds in these accounts.

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The court also ruled that the prosecution (the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission) had sufficient evidence through witnesses to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Maina was also guilty of money laundering in the amount of N171,099,000.

Abang convicted the accused on all 12 counts and sentenced him to eight years in jail.

Although the law provided for a maximum term of 14 years, the judge was moved by Maina’s allocutus plea — a plea made to the court by a prisoner who has been found guilty but has not yet been sentenced.

The judge ruled that the sentence will be served consecutively, beginning on October 25, 2019, the date of arraignment.

The court ordered Maina and his company, Common Input Property and Investment Limited, to surrender almost N2.1 billion traceable to their bank accounts to the federal government, following which the company was to be wound up.

In addition, the court ordered that Maina’s properties in Abuja’s Life Camp and Jabi Districts be forfeited to the government.

The convict’s bulletproof car and a BMW 5 series vehicle discovered at the convict’s residence will also be auctioned, with the earnings forfeited to the government.

The same judge sentenced Faisal, Maina’s fugitive son, to seven years in prison in October on a three-count money laundering conviction.