The Abuja Court of Appeals on Friday upheld the eight years in prison of Abdulrasheed Maina, former chairman of the defunct Pension Reform Task Force (PRTT), for stealing more than N2 billion in pension funds.
The judge, Okon Abang, had jailed Mr. Maina in November 2021 after sentencing him and his company, Common Input Property and Investment Ltd, on the 12 counts of money laundering brought against them by the Economic Crimes and Financial (EFCC).
Upholding the Federal High Court’s decision on Friday, a three-member panel of the Court of Appeal unanimously held that Mr. Maina was not denied a fair hearing in the trial court as he claimed.
A member of the judging panel, Elfreda Daudu-Williams, who read the main judgment, maintained that it was Mr. Maina who did not take the opportunity to defend himself.
“There was no denial of a fair hearing as the lower court gave the appellant an opportunity to defend himself.
“Given the foregoing, it is incumbent on the appellant to defend itself against the money laundering allegations,” Ms. Daudu-Williams contended.
Ms Daudu-Williams said that there was insufficient evidence in Mr Maina’s defense to show that he did not commit the offence.
“The whole matter is resolved against the appellant and the appeal fails, that is the position of the court,” the judge said.
Similarly, the Abuja Court of Appeal, in November 2022, upheld the conviction and 14 years in prison for Mr. Maina’s son, Faisal Maina, on money laundering charges related to the diversion of pension funds.
Background
The Federal Supreme Court had sentenced Mr. Maina to various prison terms ranging from three to eight years, to be carried out simultaneously.
The court sentenced the convicted person to three years in prison for charge 1, five years for charge 2, eight years for charge 3, eight years for charge 4, two years for charge 5, five years for charge 6, and eight years for office seven. .
Judge Abang ordered that the terms of imprisonment run concurrently from October 25, 2019, the date he was arraigned.
As for the punishment of Common Input Property and Investment Ltd, the judge ordered it liquidated and its assets seized from the federal government.
It also sentenced Mr. Maina to three years in prison for count 8, five years for count 9, eight years for count 10, three years for count 11, and three years for count 12.
He argued that Maina stole more than N2 billion belonging to retirees, “most of whom have died without reaping the fruits of their labor.”
“From my point of view, the first defendant (Maina) stole the funds of the retirees, and some of the retirees died of frustration,” Abang said.
Mr. Maina, not satisfied with the sentence, approached the appeals court to challenge it. But his appeal failed on Friday.
News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that in the charge marked as FHC/ABJ/CR/256/2019, the EFCC alleged that Mr. Maina used fictitious names to open and operate various bank accounts.
The anti-corruption agency also said it recruited their relatives and bankers to operate fake bank accounts through which illicit funds were funneled.
The EFCC prosecuted him on one count of 12 counts and alleged that sums of N300 million, N500 million and N1.5 billion were stolen from retirees and deposited into the accounts.
(YAYA)