The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, on Monday, convicted and sentenced the former Chairman of the defunct Pension Reform Task Team, PRTT, Mr Abdulrasheed Maina, to eight years in prison for money laundering.
JomogNews Nigeria gathered that Maina was found guilty of stealing over N2 billion belonging to Pensioners “most of whom have died without reaping the fruits of their labour,”.
The court found him guilty of money laundering charges. The judgement was delivered by Justice Okon Abang on Monday.
Maina was convicted on count 2, 6, 9, 3, 7 and 10.
Abang also found Maina guilty of concealing his true identity as a signatory to accounts opened in two banks – UBA and Fidelity bank – by using the identity of his family members without their knowledge.
These accounts had cash deposits of N300 million, N500 million, and N1.5 billion.
The court added that Maina could not prove that the money in the accounts were not stolen
It stated that through Maina’s service as a civil servant, his salary and emoluments would not amount to the money in these accounts.
The court ordered Maina and his firm to restitute about N2.1billion that was traced to their bank accounts, to the Federal Government, after which it ordered that the company should be wound up.
Besides, it ordered the forfeiture of Maina’s two choice properties at Life camp and Jabi districts of Abuja, to the government, as well as the auction of a bulletproof car and a BMW 5 series car that was found on the premises of the convict.
Justice Abang stressed that though the law made provision for a maximum sentence of 14 years, he said he was moved by Maina’s plea for mercy.
More details soon…
