The Department of State Services (DSS) has arrested Faisal, son of Abdulrasheed Maina, former chairman of the defunct pension reform task team (PRTT).
Sources told TheCable that Faisal had been handed over to
the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
“His arrest followed credible intelligence which indicated
that Faisal had secretly returned to the country,” a source revealed.
Faisal, who has been on the run since 2020, was arraigned by
the EFCC on a three-count charge bordering on money laundering. He was granted
bail but breached his bail conditions and fled the country.
TheCable understands that DSS operatives tracked and
arrested Faisal in the Karsana area of Abuja.
BACK STORY
Faisal’s trial continued in his absence, and in October
2021, he was convicted by the federal high court in Abuja on money laundering
charges and sentenced to 14 years’ imprisonment.
Okong Abang, the trial judge, held that the EFCC had
established that Faisal operated a fictitious bank account with the United Bank
for Africa (UBA), through which his father, Maina, laundered N58.1million.
The court noted that the funds were initially deposited into
the UBA account, which was operated in the name of “Alhaji Faisal Farm 2”,
before being withdrawn by Faisal and his father, between October 2013 and June
2019.
In November 2022, the court of appeal upheld Faisal’s
conviction but reduced his sentence from 14 years to seven, ruling that the
trial court should not have imposed a maximum sentence on a first-time
offender.
His father, Maina, served an eight-year prison sentence at
the Kuje Correctional Centre in Abuja for laundering of N2 billion pension
funds.
He was released earlier this year but has since been
declared wanted over an alleged case of “receiving stolen properties”.
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