The Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered Faisal, son of Abdulrasheed Maina, to be committed to a correctional centre to serve his seven-year jail term following his recent re-arrest.
Justice James Omotosho gave the order after the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) filed an ex parte motion, which was moved by its lawyer, M.K. Hussain.
Abdulrasheed, former chairman of the defunct Pension Reform Taskforce Team, was convicted on a N2 billion money laundering charge and has since served his prison term.
Faisal was re-arrested by the Department of State Services (DSS) on Oct. 14 and handed over to the EFCC after jumping bail and failing to attend his trial approximately six years ago.
He was arraigned in 2019 before the Federal High Court in Abuja on three counts of money laundering and failure to fully disclose assets in an asset declaration form.
After Faisal entered his plea before Justice Okon Abang, now an Appeal Court justice, he jumped bail and avoided trial, prompting Justice Abang to continue proceedings in his absence.
The judgment was delivered on Oct. 7, 2021. Faisal was convicted and sentenced to five years’ imprisonment on counts 1 and 3, and 14 years on count 2.
Justice Abang ordered that all sentences run concurrently and that Faisal be arrested wherever found and taken to a correctional centre to serve his term.
Following his re-arrest, the EFCC filed an ex parte motion seeking permission to enforce Justice Abang’s judgment delivered against Faisal on Oct. 7, 2021.
The motion sought a warrant to commit Faisal to the Nigeria Correctional Service (NCoS) or prison to serve the sentence imposed by Justice O.E. Abang, pursuant to the judgment of Oct. 7, 2021, and the Court of Appeal judgment of Nov. 24, 2022.
It also sought an order directing that Faisal serve the jail terms as ordered, commencing from Oct. 14, 2026, the date of his re-arrest. Motion: Justice Omotosho granted it.
The judge, who gaThe judge granted the EFCC leave to apply for enforcement of the judgment and issued a warrant to commit Faisal to NCoS to serve the sentence imposed by the Federal High Court and Appeal Court, beginning from Oct. 14, the date of his re-arrest.o said in accordance with the Appeal Court decision dated Nov. 24, 2022, the sentence shall be three years’ imprisonment in count 1, seven years in count 2 and three years’ jail term in count 3 respectively, which shall run concurrently from Oct. 14, being the date he was re-arrested.
