Abdulrasheed Maina, the former chairman of the Pension Reform Task Team (PRTT), has had his appeal dismissed and his eight-year sentence upheld by the Court of Appeal in Abuja.
This comes after Maina was found guilty of laundering approximately N2.1 billion.
In a unanimous decision by a three-member panel of the court, the November 8, 2021 judgment given by Okon Abang, judge of an Abuja federal high court, was upheld.
The lead judgment, delivered by Elfreda Williams-Daudu, Justice of the Appellate Court, stated that Maina was not denied a fair hearing by the trial court and that the prosecution had proved its case beyond a reasonable doubt.
Maina had previously pleaded not guilty to a 12-count charge of money laundering brought against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on October 25, 2019.
However, on November 8, 2021, the trial judge, Okon Abang, sentenced him to eight years in prison.
As part of the sentence, the court also ordered Maina and his firm, Common Input Property and Investment Limited, to forfeit approximately N2.1 billion traced to their bank accounts to the federal government.
Additionally, the company is to be wound up. The court also ordered that Maina’s properties at Life Camp and Jabi districts of Abuja should be forfeited to the government.
