Go to Jail For 7 Years: Court Orders Ex-Pension Boss' Son
- A Federal High Court in Abuja ordered the remand of Faisal Maina to a correctional centre after the EFCC secured a committal warrant against him
- Faisal had jumped bail and disappeared during his trial for about six years before being rearrested by the DSS in October 2026
- Justice Omotosho directed that Faisal's sentences run concurrently starting from October 14, 2026, the date of his rearrest
PAY ATTENTION: Find it fast with our new search feature at Legit.ng!
A Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered Faisal Maina, son of former Pension Reform Task Team chairman Abdulrasheed Maina, to begin serving his prison sentence for money laundering, nearly five years after he fled court proceedings and vanished.
Justice James Omotosho issued the committal warrant on Thursday following an ex parte application brought by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission. The EFCC asked the court to enforce the conviction and sentence that had already been handed down against Faisal, and to fix the start of his prison term from October 14, 2026, the date the Department of State Services rearrested him in the Karsana area of Abuja. He was subsequently transferred to EFCC custody.
Sentences Faisal must now serve
Justice Omotosho, after EFCC counsel M.K. Hussain moved the application, granted all the reliefs sought. In line with a Court of Appeal judgment delivered on November 24, 2022, the judge directed Faisal to serve three years on count one, seven years on count two, and three years on count three. All three sentences will run concurrently from October 14, 2026.
Faisal was first charged in 2019 on three counts covering money laundering and failure to fully disclose his assets in a declaration form. He pleaded not guilty before Justice Okon Abang, but later stopped appearing in court after jumping bail.
Abang proceeded with the trial in Faisal's absence and, on October 7, 2021, convicted him, handing down five years each on counts one and three, and 14 years on count two, with the sentences to run concurrently. The judge also ordered that Faisal be arrested wherever he was found and taken to a correctional centre.
Court of Appeal reduced the sentences
On appeal, the Court of Appeal upheld the conviction but brought down the sentences in its November 2022 ruling, reducing count one and count three to three years each and count two to seven years.
Faisal's father, Abdulrasheed Maina, was separately convicted in a money laundering case linked to roughly two billion naira and has since completed his own prison term.
Source: Legit.ng
