The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has confirmed that it has taken custody of Faisal Maina, son of former chairman of the defunct Pension Reform Task Team, Abdulrasheed Maina, following his arrest after six years on the run.
The fee’s spokesperson, Dele Oyewale, confirmed this to PREMIUM TIMES Saturday morning, saying a crucial court docket order could be wanted to switch him to a correctional centre to serve his jail sentence.
“Confirmed. The necessary court order will be obtained to take him to the Correctional Centre for him to serve his sentence,” Mr Oyewale wrote in response to a PREMIUM TIMES enquiry.
TheCable first reported that Faisal was arrested by operatives of the State Security Service (SSS) within the Karsana space of Abuja after intelligence indicated that he had secretly returned to Nigeria.
Full particulars about Faisal’s arrest stay sketchy. An SSS spokesperson in a terse message instructed our reporter that he was arrested on Thursday and subsequently handed over to the EFCC, which efficiently prosecuted him, in absentia, in a cash laundering case.
Faisal had been on the run since 2020 after he allegedly breached his bail situations and fled the nation whereas dealing with a three-count cost bordering on cash laundering.
His trial continued in his absence, culminating in his conviction by the Federal High Court in Abuja in October 2021. The trial choose, Okon Abang, sentenced him to 14 years’ imprisonment.
The court docket discovered that Faisal operated a fictitious account with United Bank for Africa (UBA), via which his father allegedly laundered N58.1 million.
The funds have been deposited into an account operated within the identify of “Alhaji Faisal Farm 2” and subsequently withdrawn by Faisal and his father between October 2013 and June 2019.
READ ALSO: Maina’s son, Faisal, arrested after six years on the run Report
In November 2022, the Court of Appeal upheld his conviction however lowered his sentence from 14 years to seven years, ruling that the trial court docket shouldn’t have imposed the utmost sentence on a first-time offender.
Faisal’s father, Mr Maina, served an eight-year jail sentence on the Kuje Correctional Centre in Abuja after his conviction for laundering N2 billion in pension funds. He was launched earlier in 2026 however has since been declared needed over an alleged case of receiving stolen property.
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