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Court Finds Abdulrasheed Maina Guilty Of Money Laundering

Published

3 years ago

Nov 8, 2021.

…Justice Okon Abang found Maina guilty of concealing his true identity as a signatory to accounts opened in two bank…

EKO HOT BLOG reports that the former chairman of the now-defunct Pension Reformed Task Team, Abdulrasheed Maina, has been found guilty of money laundering.

Justice Okon Abang of the Federal High Court is currently reading the judgement in Abuja, the nation’s capital.

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 ₦171,099,000.

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 ₦300million, ₦500million, and ₦1.5billion

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.

The court also found Maina guilty for the purchase of a property in Abuja paid in cash in the sum of $1.4million, which is above the statutory threshold of ₦5million and without passing through a financial inst itution, describing it as a criminal offense.