A Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered Faisal Maina, son of former Pension Reform Task Team chairman, Abdulrasheed Maina, to begin serving his seven-year prison sentence for money laundering, nearly six years after he jumped bail and disappeared during his trial.
Justice James Omotosho issued the committal warrant on Thursday after granting an ex parte application filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), seeking an order to transfer Faisal to a correctional centre to serve his sentence.
The EFCC had asked the court to enforce the conviction and sentence imposed on Faisal over money laundering and failure to fully disclose his assets in a declaration form.
The commission also requested that his prison term should commence from October 14, 2026, when operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) rearrested him in the Karsana area of Abuja.
Faisal was subsequently handed over to the EFCC, ending nearly six years of evading the criminal proceedings after he disappeared while standing trial.
Following the application moved by EFCC counsel, M.K. Hussain, Justice Omotosho ordered that Faisal serve three years’ imprisonment on count one, seven years on count two and three years on count three.
The sentences, which were imposed in accordance with the November 24, 2022 judgment of the Court of Appeal, are to run concurrently, effectively making his prison term seven years.
The court further directed that the sentence should run from October 14, 2026, the date of his rearrest.
Faisal was initially arraigned in 2019 on a three-count charge bordering on money laundering and failure to make full disclosure of his assets.
He pleaded not guilty to the charges before a former judge of the Federal High Court, Justice Okon Abang.
However, he subsequently jumped bail and stopped attending court proceedings, prompting the judge to continue his trial in absentia.
On October 7, 2021, Justice Abang convicted him and sentenced him to five years’ imprisonment on counts one and three, and 14 years on count two, with the sentences to run concurrently.
The trial judge also ordered his arrest wherever he was found and directed that he be transferred to a correctional facility to serve his sentence.
Although the Court of Appeal upheld his conviction, it reduced the sentences in its November 24, 2022 judgment to three years on counts one and three; and seven years on count two.
His father, Abdulrasheed Maina, was separately convicted in a money laundering case involving approximately N2bn and has since completed his prison sentence.
