A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, Federal Capital Territory, on Thursday, sentenced the son of a former Chairman of the Pension Reform Taskforce Team, Faisal Maina, to 14 years imprisonment.
Justice Okon Abang found Faisal, the 21-year-old son of Abdulrasheed Maina, guilty on three counts of money laundering.
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission had dragged Faisal before the court.
Justice Abanga, in delivering his judgement, held that EFCC successfully proved that Faisal operated a fictitious bank account with the United Bank for Africa, which his father, Maina, used to launder the sum of N58.1million.
The court said that the money, which was deposited into the account operated with the name of Alhaji Faisal Farm 2, was later withdrawn by the convict and his father, between October 2013 and June 2019.
Justice Abang, who praised the EFCC for proving all the essential ingredients of the charge, noted that Faisal should have known that such money was a proceed of corruption perpetrated by his father.
He then sentenced the defendant to five years in counts 1 and 3 of the charge.
The judge also sentenced Faisal to 14 years on count 2 of the charge.
Justice Abang, however, held that the sentence would run concurrently, beginning from Thursday.
The court then ordered that the defendant, who had stop attending trial since June 24, 2020 be immediately arrested and remanded in any Correctional Service Centre to begin his jail term.
The judge also held that should the defendant be traced to anywhere outside the country, the Nigerian Government, “shall legally or lawfully commence extradition proceeds to bring him into the country to serve the jail term.”
The court also ordered the winding up of the company through which the fund was laundered, Alhaji Faisal Farm 2, and the funds in it forfeited to the government.
