A federal high court in Abuja has ordered the commitment of Faisal Maina, son of Abdulrasheed Maina, former chairman of the defunct Pension Reform Task Team, to a correctional centre to serve his seven-year jail term.
James Omotosho, the presiding judge, gave the order on
Thursday after granting an ex parte application filed by the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The commission had asked the court to issue a warrant
committing Faisal to the Nigeria Correctional Service (NCoS) to enforce the
judgment convicting him of money laundering and failure to make full disclosure
in an asset declaration form.
Faisal was arrested by the Department of State Services
(DSS) on October 14, in the Karsana area of Abuja, about six years after he
jumped bail and absconded from trial. He was subsequently handed over to the
EFCC.
In its application, the commission also sought an order
directing that his prison sentence should run from October 14, the date of his
re-arrest.
After the EFCC’s lawyer, M.K. Hussain, moved the
application, Omotosho granted the reliefs sought and issued a warrant for
Faisal’s commitment to a correctional centre.
The judge ordered that, in line with the court of appeal’s
decision of November 24, 2022, Faisal should serve three years’ imprisonment on
count one, seven years on count two, and three years on count three.
The sentences are to run concurrently, beginning from
October 14, 2026, when he was re-arrested.
Faisal was arraigned before the federal high court in Abuja
in 2019 on a three-count charge bordering on money laundering and failure to
fully disclose his assets.
He pleaded not guilty to the charges before Okon Abang, then
a judge of the court, but later jumped bail and stopped attending proceedings.
Following his disappearance, Abang proceeded with the trial
in his absence and convicted him on October 7, 2021.
The court sentenced him to five years’ imprisonment on
counts one and three, and 14 years on count two, with the sentences to run
concurrently.
Abang also ordered that Faisal be arrested wherever he was
found and taken to a correctional centre to serve his sentence.
The court of appeal subsequently upheld the conviction but
reduced the sentences in its judgment delivered on November 24, 2022, to three
years on counts one and three, and seven years on count two.
Faisal’s father, Abdulrasheed, was also convicted in a
separate money laundering case involving about N2 billion. He has since
completed his prison term.
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