Court Sends Former Pension Boss Son to Prison Over Money Laundering

(Faisal Maina. Photo Credit: Punch News)

A court in Abuja ordered that Faisal Maina the son of former pension boss Abdulrasheed Maina be taken to prison to start serving his 7 years jail sentence for money laundering.

Justice James Omotosho made the order after hearing a request from the EFCC.

The request was heard without the other side present and asked the court for a warrant to send Faisal to the Nigeria Correctional Service.

The EFCC asked the court to enforce the conviction and sentence given to Faisal for money laundering and for failing to fully declare his assets.

It also asked that his prison term start from October 14 2026, the day the Department of State Services rearrested him in the Karsana area of Abuja.

He was then handed over to the EFCC, about six years after he jumped bail and disappeared during his trial.

The EFCC lawyer, M.K. Hussain, made the request, and Justice Omotosho agreed and signed the committal warrant.

The judge ordered Faisal to serve three years on count one, seven years on count two and three years on count three, in line with the Court of Appeal judgment of November 24 2022.

The sentences will run at the same time, starting from October 14 2026.

Faisal was first charged in 2019 with three counts linked to money laundering and failing to fully disclose his assets.

He pleaded not guilty before Justice Okon Abang, a former judge of the court.

Later, he jumped bail and stopped showing up in court, so the trial continued without him.

On October 7 2021, the court found him guilty and sentenced him to five years on counts one and three and 14 years on count two, with the sentences to run at the same time.

Justice Abang also ordered that he be arrested wherever he was found and taken to a correctional centre.

The Court of Appeal upheld the conviction but cut the sentences in its November 24 2022 judgment.

Counts one and three were reduced to three years, and count two to seven years.

Faisal's father, Abdulrasheed, was convicted separately in a money laundering case involving about N2 billion.

He is out of the prison after serving his sentence.