Former chairman of the defunct Pension Reforms Task Team, Abdulrasheed Maina, has been sentenced to 61 years’ imprisonment (but to run concurrently for eight years), by a Federal High Court in Abuja, presided over by Justice Okon Abang, on Monday.
The court had found Maina 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 Maina 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.
The court 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, EFCC, 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.
