CASE NUMBER 10925:

MAINA FINALLY GETS JUSTICE OF 8 YEARS FOR N2.1BN PENSION SCAM

Alleged Perpetrators(s)

Abudulrasheed Maina

Location (Town / State)

Abuja, Abuja

Date of Event

08 Nov 2021

Date of republication

08 November every year

Case category (Choose all that apply)

Case Summary

The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, has convicted and sentenced the former Chairman of the defunct Pension Reform Task Team, PRTT, Mr Abdulrasheed Maina, to eight years in prison for money laundering to the tune of N2.1 billion.

Full story

Abudulrasheed Maina, the former chairman of the Pension Reform Task Team (PRTT) has been convicted on charges of money laundering brought against him by the EFCC and consequently sentenced to eight years imprisonment.
It is pertinent to remember that the convict, Abudulrasheed Maina was enlisted by the former President, Goodluck Jonathan to clean up the corrupt pension system in Nigeria. But he rather decided to become the hunted than the hunter after being accused of leading a huge pension fraud scheme of over a N100 billion. Following allegations of corruption, the convicted former Pension boss was then invited by the Senate Joint Committee on Public Service and Establishment and State and Local Government Administration. The Senate after completion of its investigation issued a Warrant of Arrest against Maina. Known by his dubious character, he ignored the panel, sued the senate and the then Inspector–General of police, Mohammed Abubakar and went into hiding after being declared wanted by the police.
In view of the above, Maina was dismissed from office, and was thereafter arraigned by the EFCC on July 21, 2015 together with Stephen Oronsaye and two others before a Federal High Court on a 24-count charge bordering on procurement fraud and obtaining by false pretense – charges for which Mr. Oronsaye and the two other accused pleaded not guilty in court but Maina’s absence graced the court. It was reported that he is said to have spent those past years in the United Arab Emirates, from where he kept lobbying to win the pleasures of the Buhari administration. Since absconding, nothing was heard of Maina until shortly after the emergence of President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015 when members of his defunct Presidential Task Team on Pension Reforms offered to work with the then-incoming administration.
During the trial of 8th November 2021, the court found Maina guilty of concealing his true identity by inducing officials of two banks, Fidelity Bank and UBA, to open accounts for him, without carrying out due diligence, using the identities of member of his family without their knowledge. Two of those accounts had cash deposits of N300million, N500million and N1.5billion. The Court held that Maina stole monies meant for pensioners, “most of whom have died without reaping the fruits of their labor,” as he could not explain the source of the monies in his accounts. Moreover, his salaries and emolument as a civil servant could not justify the monies in these accounts to which he is signatory.
In the course of the witness presentation, it was revealed that Maina acquired properties in Dubai, United Arab Emirate, United States of America, and a $2million (Two Million USA Dollars), property in Jabi, Abuja. More properties like Northrich Company which owns over 50 cars that were used for transportation business and a villa in a high ground area in Dubai were linked to him. In addition, his wife Laila Abdurrasheed also owns cleaning services, called Spotless and Flawless.
The presiding Judge, Justice Okon Abang, ruled that the prosecution successfully established the essential ingredients of the offences contained in the charge, beyond reasonable doubt and convicted him on count 2, 3, 6, 7, 9 and 10 of the charge. The maximum sentence for a count charge was eight years which he will serve concurrently starting from October 25, 2019. The convict was ordered that he and his firm, Common Input Property and Investment Limited, to restitute about N2.1billion that was traced to their bank accounts, to the Federal Government, after which it ordered that the company should be wound up.

External links/URLs

https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines/494090-updated-court-sentences-maina-to-eight-years-in-jail-for-n2-billion-pension-fraud.html
https://dailypost.ng/2021/11/09/abdulrasheed-maina-how-ex-pension-boss-journeyed-to-jail/

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