You Got Fair Hearing, Now Serve Your Jail Term – Appeal Court Tells Maina

The Court of Appeal has ruled against the former Chairman of the Pension Reform Task Team (PRTT), Abdulrasheed Maina in the about N2.1billion money laundering case against him.

The Appellate Court in its ruling on Friday upheld the judgment of a Federal High Court which sentenced Maina to prison for eight years.

Naija News recalls Justice Okon Abang of the Federal High Court, Abija, on November 8, 2021, convicted and sentenced Maina to prison for money laundering. The accused however appealed the court’s judgement.

But a three-member panel of the appeal court on Friday unanimously affirmed the judgment of the lower court.

Justice Elfreda Williams-Daudu, in the lead judgment held that Maina got a fair hearing in the High Court and that the prosecution proved its case beyond reasonable doubt.

He also affirmed the various interlocutory rulings delivered in the course of the trial at the Federal High Court, which Maina appealed against.

On November 8, 2021, the Federal High Court in Abuja found Maina guilty of money laundering and sentenced him to eight years in prison.

Justice Okon Abang ruled that Maina is guilty of money laundering in the sum of N171,099,000.

The judge also found him guilty of concealing his true identity as a signatory to accounts opened in two banks – UBA and Fidelity Bank – by using the identity of his family members without their knowledge.

The accounts had cash deposits of N300million, N500million, and N1.5billion

According to the court, Maina stole funds meant for pensioners as he could not prove where he got them from. Justice Abang held that through Maina’s service as a civil servant, his salary and emoluments will not amount to the monies in the accounts.