Court convicts ex-pension boss, Abdulrasheed Maina for money laundering
Former chairman of the defunct Pension Reformed Task Team, Abdulrasheed Maina, has been found guilty of money laundering charges.
In a judgement delivered by Okon Abang, the trial judge, the court held that Mr Maina stole over N2 billion belonging to Pensioners, “most of whom have died without reaping the fruits of their labour”.
“I find the defendant (Maina) guilty and convicted in count 2, 6, 9, 3, 7 and 10,” Abang held.
Maina was tried on a 12-count money laundering charge filed against him by the EFCC.
The court held that the prosecutor, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has produced essential evidence through witnesses to prove beyond reasonable doubt that Maina is guilty of money laundering in the sum of N171,099,000.
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The court added that the defendant (Maina), called only one witness to his defense when he had the opportunity to call as many as he could.
While further delivering his judgement, Justice Okon Abang found Maina guilty of concealing his true identity as a signatory to accounts opened in two banks – UBA and Fidelity bank – by using the identity of his family members without their knowledge.
These accounts had cash deposits of N300million, N500million, and N1.5billion.
The court held that Maina stole monies meant for pensioners as he could not prove where he got them from.
Justice Abang also held that through Maina’s service as a civil servant, his salary and emoluments will not amount to the monies in these accounts.
