A Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered the remand of Faisal Maina, son of former Pension Reform Task Team chairman, Abdulrasheed Maina, in a correctional centre to serve his prison sentence for money laundering.
Justice James Omotosho issued the order on Thursday after granting an ex parte application by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, seeking a committal warrant to enforce Faisal’s conviction and sentence.
The court also directed that his jail term should commence from October 14, 2026, when he was rearrested in Abuja, nearly six years after jumping bail during his trial.
After the EFCC counsel, M.K. Hussain, moved the application, the judge granted the reliefs sought and issued the committal warrant.
Omotosho directed that Faisal should serve three years’ imprisonment on count one, seven years on count two and three years on count three, in line with the Court of Appeal’s judgment delivered on November 24, 2022. The sentences are to run concurrently, with the commencement date fixed at October 14, 2026.
Faisal was arraigned in 2019 on a three-count charge bordering on money laundering and failure to fully disclose his assets in a declaration form. He pleaded not guilty before a former judge of the court, Justice Okon Abang.
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However, he later jumped bail and stopped attending court proceedings, prompting Abang to continue the trial in his absence.
On October 7, 2021, the court convicted him and sentenced him to five years’ imprisonment on counts one and three, and 14 years on count two. The sentences were to run concurrently.
Abang also ordered his arrest wherever he was found and his transfer to a correctional centre to serve his sentence.
Although the Court of Appeal upheld the conviction, it reduced the sentences in its judgment of November 24, 2022, to three years on counts one and three, and seven years on count two.
Faisal was rearrested by the Department of State Services on October 14, 2026, in the Karsana area of Abuja before being handed over to the EFCC.
His father, Abdulrasheed Maina, was separately convicted in a money laundering case involving about N2 billion. He has since completed his prison sentence.
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