…as Court Issues Committal Warrant
By Ogbeni Olawale Dawodu
A Federal High Court in Abuja on Thursday ordered Faisal Maina, son of former Pension Reform Task Team chairman, Abdulrasheed Maina, to be remanded in a correctional centre to begin serving his sentence for money laundering.
Justice James Omotosho issued the committal warrant after granting an ex parte application by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), which sought to enforce the conviction and sentence imposed on Faisal for money laundering and failure to fully declare his assets.
The anti-graft agency also urged the court to let the term run from October 14, 2026, the day the Department of State Services (DSS) rearrested him in the Karsana area of Abuja. He was later handed over to the EFCC, about six years after he jumped bail and vanished during his trial.
After EFCC counsel, M.K. Hussain, moved the application, Justice Omotosho granted all the reliefs sought.
In line with the Court of Appeal’s judgment of November 24, 2022, the judge directed that Faisal serve three years on count one, seven years on count two and three years on count three. The sentences will run concurrently from October 14, 2026.
Faisal was arraigned in 2019 on a three-count charge of money laundering and failure to make full disclosure of his assets. He pleaded not guilty before a former judge of the court, Justice Okon Abang, but later jumped bail and stopped attending court, prompting the trial to proceed in his absence.
On October 7, 2021, Justice Abang convicted him and sentenced him to five years’ imprisonment on counts one and three, and 14 years on count two, to run concurrently. The judge also ordered his arrest and transfer to a correctional centre wherever he was found.
The Court of Appeal upheld the conviction but, in its November 24, 2022 judgment, reduced the sentences to three years on counts one and three, and seven years on count two.
Faisal’s father, Abdulrasheed, was separately convicted in a money laundering case involving about N2bn. He has since completed his prison sentence.
