After 6 years on the run, court docket sends Maina's son Faisal to jail for 7 years

The Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered that Faisal Maina, son of former pension boss Abdulrasheed Maina, be taken to a correctional centre to serve his seven-year jail time period.

Justice James Omotosho gave the order after the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, filed an ex parte movement moved by its lawyer, M.Okay. 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 didn’t attend his trial about six years in the past.

He was arraigned in 2019 earlier than the Federal High Court in Abuja on a three-count cost of cash laundering and failure to make full disclosure in an asset declaration kind.

His trial continued in his absence, and in October 2021, Justice Okon Abang, now an Appeal Court Judge, convicted him and sentenced him to 5 years’ imprisonment on counts 1 and three and 14 years on rely 2.

In November 2022, the Court of Appeal upheld the conviction and decreased the sentence.

The Appeal Court dominated that the trial court docket mustn’t have imposed the utmost sentence on a first-time offender.

Justice Omotosho mentioned, according to the Appeal Court resolution dated November 24, 2022, the sentence shall be three years’ imprisonment in rely 1, seven years in rely 2, and three years in rely 3, to run concurrently from October 14, the date he was re-arrested.

The court docket discovered that Faisal operated a fictitious account with the United Bank for Africa, UBA, via which his father allegedly laundered N58.1 million.

The cash was paid into an account within the identify of “Alhaji Faisal Farm 2” and withdrawn by Faisal and his father between October 2013 and June 2019.

His father, Abdulrasheed Maina, was the previous chairman of the defunct Pension Reform Taskforce Team.

He was additionally convicted on a N2 billion cash laundering cost and had since served his jail time period.

With the newest order, Faisal will now start his seven-year jail time period, six years after he fled from justice.