Money Laundering: Maina’s Son, Faisal, Bags 14 Years Imprisonment
BY EDMOND ODOK – The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has sentenced Faisal, the 21-year-old son of former Chairman of defunct Pension Reform Taskforce Team, Abdulrasheed Maina, to 14 years imprisonment over money laundering charges.
In a judgment delivered by trial Justice Okon Abang, the Court found Faisal guilty on a three-count money laundering charge preferred against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The Court said the EFCC successfully established that Faisal operated a fictitious bank account with the United Bank for Africa (UBA), through which his father, Maina, laundered the sum of N58.1million.
According to Justice Abang, the said fund, deposited into the account operated in the name of Alhaji Faisal Farm 2, was serially withdrawn by the defendant and his father, between October 2013 and June 2019.
The Court expressed satisfaction that the anti-graft agency proved all the essential ingredients of the case, stressing that the defendant reasonably ought to have known that inflows into the account were proceeds of unlawful acts and corruption by his father.
In sentencing the defendant to five (5) years imprisonment on counts 1 and 3 of the charges, the Court also declared that Faisal would serve 14 years jail term on count 2 of the charge, adding that the sentence would run concurrently, starting from Thursday, October 7, 2021, being the date of his conviction.
Furthermore, Justice Abang ordered that Faisal, who has failed to appear for his trial since June 24, 2020, should be arrested anywhere he is found in Nigeria and remanded in any Correctional Service Center to serve his jail term immediately.
He also directed that peradventure Faisal is traced to a place outside Nigeria, the Federal Government, “shall legally or lawfully commence extradition proceeds to bring him into the country to serve the jail term”.
Additionally, the Court ordered that the company where the funds were laundered, Alhaji Faisal Farm 2, be shut down, with funds therein forfeited to the Federal Government.
On November 24, 2020, the Court had issued a bench warrant for security agencies to arrest Faisal wherever he is found, shortly after his bail was revoked. Also, the EFCC officially closed its case against him after calling three witnesses to testify in the matter.
The anti-corruption body had accused Faisal of receiving the sum of N58.11 million, being proceeds of a corrupt act by his father, sometime between 2013 and 2019. Similarly, the EFCC accused him of failing to properly declare his assets before the EFCC.
Also, it was widely reported that Faisal had, on September 30, 2019, threatened the Department of State Service (DSS) operatives that stormed an Abuja hotel to arrest his father, Maina.
