Appeals court affirms Maina’s eight-year prison sentence.

The eight-year sentence given to Abdulrasheed Maina, the former chairman of the disbanded Pension Reform Task Team, after his conviction on a 12-count money laundering charge, was maintained by the Court of Appeal in Abuja on Friday.

Three members of the court’s panel decided unanimously that there was no good basis to overturn the Federal High Court’s conviction of him.

The trial court had allegedly denied the former pension manager a fair hearing, the court further found, but there was no evidence to support this claim.

The appellate court ruled on all the arguments Maina made against him and decided that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission had established its case beyond a reasonable doubt in the lead judgment written by Justice Elfreda Williams-Daudu.

The various interlocutory rulings made during the trial at the Federal High Court, which Maina appealed against, were likewise upheld by Justice Williams-Daudu.

The appeal was then rejected by the court because it lacked merit.

The Economic Financial Crimes Commission has earlier charged Maina with engaging in money laundering on November 8, 2021. He was imprisoned after the high court ruled him guilty.

The anti-graft agency said in the charge with the case number FHC/ABJ/CR/256/2019 that Maina used a bank account run by his company to launder money and purchase landed properties in Abuja.

It informed the court that the first defendant, Maina, opened and ran numerous bank accounts under false names, as well as hired his relatives who worked in the banking industry to run phony bank accounts through which illegal payments were channeled.

In addition, the EFCC said that Maina persuaded employees of Fidelity Bank Plc and United Bank of Africa, UBA, to open accounts for him without carrying out the necessary due diligence to confirm the identity of the beneficial owner.

Maina and his company, Common Input Property and Investment Limited, were found guilty of the offense by the court.

Trial Justice Okon Abang ruled that the sentence would begin to serve its full term on October 25, 2019, the defendants’ arraignment date.

The court ordered Maina and his company to forfeit money to the federal government that was found in their bank accounts, totaling around N2.1 billion, payable within 90 days.

He subsequently gave the order to dissolve the corporation.

In addition, it mandated that Maina’s properties in Abuja’s Lifecamp and Jabi areas be forfeited to the government. A BMW 5 Series exotic automobile and a bulletproof car that were discovered on the convict’s property were also auctioned off.

Although the law allowed for a maximum penalty of 14 years for the offense the defendants committed, Justice Abang stated that he was affected by Maina’s pleading for mercy.