Justice Okon Abang of a Federal High Court in Abuja on Monday sentenced a former chairman of now-defunct Pension Reforms Task Team, Abdulrasheed Maina, guilty to 61 years’ imprisonment but to run concurrently for eight years.
The court had found him guilty of inducing staff of Fidelity Bank to open bank accounts for him without conducting due diligence and money laundering.
Delivering the judgement, Justice Abang also found him guilty of concealing his true identity as signatory to accounts opened in UBA and Fidelity Bank by using the identity of his family members without their knowledge. These accounts were said to have cash deposits of N300 million, N500 million and N1.5 billion.
The court held that Maina stole monies meant for pensioners as he could not prove where he got same from.Justice Abang also held that through Maina’s service as a civil servant, his salary and emoluments would not amount to the monies in these accounts.
The court further held that the prosecution (the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission), produced essential evidence through witnesses called, to prove beyond reasonable doubt that Maina was also guilty of money laundering in sum of N171,099,000.
This formed part of the proceeds of unlawful act, the court ruled.
He noted that the prosecution produced essential evidence through witnesses called to prove beyond reasonable doubt that Maina is also guilty of money laundering to the tune of N171,099,000.
The judge said the amount formed part of the proceeds of unlawful act.“I find the defendant (Mr Maina) guilty and convicted in count 2, 6, 9, 3, 7 and 10,” the judge said.
The judge, who is currently listening to plea for mercy (allocutus) from the defence lawyer, has pronounced on the sentence.
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