Court sentences Faisal Maina to 14 years imprisonment

Faisal Maina, son of  Abdulrasheed Maina, the former chairman of the Pension Reformed Task Team, has been sentenced to 14 years imprisonment.

The judgement was given on Thursday by Justice Okon Abang of the Federal High Court in Abuja on the money laundering charges suit filed by the Federal Government against Faisal Maina.

On October 25, 2019, Faisal was arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and was granted bail on November 26, 2019, in the sum of 60 million naira with a surety in like sum.

The EFCC on February 24, 2021 alerted the court that Faisal had jumped bail and was on the run to the United States Of America (USA) when refused to attend trial since June 24, 2020.

Faisal was found guilty on three counts of money laundering filed against him by the EFCC who had established that Faisal operated a fake bank account in the name of Alhaji Faisal Farm 2 with the United Bank for Africa which his father, Abdulraheed Maina, laundered the sum of N58.1million through.

According to the court, the father-son duo had withdrawn money often from the account between October 2013 and June 2019.

Justice Abang expressed his satisfaction towards the EFCC in proving the charge and said that Faisal reasonably should have been aware that funds were gains of corruption by his father.

Faisal was sentenced to five years in counts 1 and 3 of the charge, and 14 years on count 2 of the charge. The court maintained that the jail terms would run concurrently starting from Thursday.

Justice Abang has ordered that Faisal be arrested and committed to a correctional center if found in Nigeria and have him lawfully extradited if apprehended outside Nigeria to face his sentence.

The court also ordered that Faisal returns to the Federal Government the sum of 58.1m naira and the company used to launder the funds, Alhaji Faisal Farm 2, be wound up.