Alleged Money Laundering: Senator Ndume Accepts To Stand As Surety For Maina

Counsel for Abdulrasheed Maina, former chairman of the Pension Reform Task Team, has told a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, that Senator Ali Ndume (Borno South) had accepted to stand as his client’s surety.

Maina and others are being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for charges bordering on money laundering.

THE WHISTLER had reported that Justice Okong Abang had varied Maina’s bail conditions from 1 billion to 500 million.

He also reduced his surety to one but added that such person must either be a senator or member of the House of Representatives or a Director in the Federal Civil Service; and must own a landed property in FCT.

The Cable reports that Maina’s counsel, Joe Gadzama, told the judge that he had not fully fulfilled the bail conditions, despite presenting Ndume as surety.

“Finally, senator Ndume agreed to stand as a surety which made us withdraw the appeal by filing a notice of discontinuance.

“The applicant has met all the conditions but only one, which is that the surety must have a certificate of occupancy.

“The surety has submitted a certificate of occupancy of a landed property but it is not In his name. It is in the name of Lawal Ahmed. But the owner is Ndume who purchased it from Lawal Ahmed,” he said.

But the prosecution counsel, Farouk Abdulah, told the judge to strike out the defense counsel’s application.

Justice Abang adjourned till June 29 to rule on the Maina’s counsel’s application.