JUST IN: Maina May Be Jailed On November 8 For Money Laundering

The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has fixed November 8 to pass judgement on the 12-count charge of pension fraud and money laundering filed against former chairman of the defunct Pension Reform Task Team, Abdulrasheed Maina.

The ex- pension task team boss may be jailed after the court refused to accept a request to reopen his defense following the conviction of his son Faisal.

Justice Okong Abang gave the bench ruling after the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission adopted their final written address.

EFCC’s counsel, Faruk Abdulah prayed the court to convict the defendant on all the charges.

“My lord, our written address is filed and served on the defendants and we adopt same and we urge the court to convict the defendant on all the 12 counts charge,” he said.

Recall that Abdulah had earlier urged the court to proceed to adopt his written address.

But Adibe asked the court to avail him time to file his own address.

Abdulah opposed the call for adjournment, adding that the defendant cannot dictate to the court how to conduct proceedings.

In his bench ruling, the judge refused to adjourn, adding that the defendant had enough time to filed their address but refused.

“Matter is Adjourned to November 8 for judgement subject to the availability of judicial time,” he said on Friday.

Maina had on Thursday urged the court to reopen his defense in the money laundering case instituted against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

Maina was arraigned in 2019 on a 12 count charge bordering on alleged stealing of pension funds and money laundering.

The application was announced by Maina’s lawyer, Anayo Adibe on Thursday after the same court convicted his (Maina) son, Faisal on three-count charge of fraud while sentencing him to 24 years ( 14 years concurrently) in his absence.

But the judge dismissed the application for lacking in merit.