Justice Okon Abang of the Federal High Court has ruled that Abdulrasheed Maina, the former chairman of the now-defunct Pension Reformed Task Team was guilty of money laundering.Abang is currently reading the judgement in Abuja, the nation’s capital.
Abang said the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) proved beyond reasonable doubt that Maina is guilty of money laundering in the sum of N171,099,000.
The court added that the defendant (Maina), called only one witness to his defense when he had the opportunity to call as many as he could.
The evidence in chief of the witness did not help the defendant as they did not relate to the charges against the defendants.
Justice Okon Abang also found Maina 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.
These accounts had cash deposits of N300million, N500million, and N1.5billion.
The court held that Maina stole monies meant for pensioners as he could not prove where he got them from.
Justice Abang also held that through Maina’s service as a civil servant, his salary and emoluments will not amount to the monies in these accounts.
