Finally, Abdulrasheed Maina goes to jail!

It is an additional victory for the Financial and Economical Crimes Fee as the anti-corruption company was equipped to productively prosecute the previous chairman of the Pension Reform Endeavor Workforce, Abdulrasheed Maina, for corruption. Past Monday, November 8, 2021, the Federal Higher Courtroom in Abuja sentenced Maina to eight years’ imprisonment for funds laundering offences involving N2 billion in pension cash.

The choose, Okon Abang, jailed Maina soon after convicting him and his company, Frequent Enter Home and Financial investment Ltd, on all the 12 counts filed from them by the EFCC. In accordance to the News Company of Nigeria, the judge sentenced Maina to numerous jail phrases ranging from a few to eight years, which are to operate concurrently beginning from October 25, 2019, the day he was arraigned. This implies Maina will invest only five many years in prison. As for the Prevalent Enter Assets and Financial investment Ltd’s punishment, the judge purchased that it must be wound up and its property forfeited to the Federal Government. He held that Maina stole over N2 billion belonging to pensioners, “most of whom have died without having reaping the fruits of their labour”. Very heartrending!

In accordance to the judge, the prosecution, the EFCC, set up that Maina acquired the assets in Abuja with $1.4 million hard cash with no passing as a result of a money institution. The quantity, the choose said, was much previously mentioned the income transaction threshold of N5 million. He also ruled that the prosecution proved that Maina concealed his genuine identity as a signatory to the accounts he opened in the United Financial institution of Africa and Fidelity Bank by working with the id of his relatives members with out their expertise.

Mr Abang condemned the roles of financial institutions in the opening of fraudulent accounts. The sums of N300 million, N500 million and N1.5 billion which, according to the choose, were stolen by Maina from pensioners, were deposited in the accounts. He said Maina could not describe the resource of the income, including that the convict, as a civil servant, could not have legitimately attained the sums of cash from his salary and emoluments. According to the decide, an EFCC witness, who testified through the demo, pointed out that Maina, whose income as a civil servant was N256, 000, could not have legitimately had such funds operating into billions in his accounts even if he saved all his salaries for 35 decades.

Recall that final thirty day period, Maina’s son, Faisal who jumped bail was sentenced to 14 several years imprisonment in absentia for money laundering by the exact decide who jailed his father.  Justice Abang on October 7, 2021 sentenced the convict to 3 counts of income laundering introduced versus him by the EFCC. The choose sentenced him to 5 a long time each and every in relation to counts a single and a few, and 14 a long time on rely two, incorporating that the sentences are to operate concurrently from the working day of the judgment. He reported the prosecution properly proven that Faisal operated a fictitious financial institution account with the United Bank for Africa via which his father, Maina, laundered N58.1 million. The choose mentioned that the funds deposited into the account, operated in the identify of Alhaji Faisal Farm 2, were sequentially withdrawn by Faisal and his father between October 2013 and June 2019.

How are the mighty fallen?” so asked the Holy Bible in 2 Samuel 1 vs. 27. Maina who was bigger than everyday living at some issue Maina that identified as the bluff of various federal government businesses and establishments Maina who twice jumped bail and had to be extradited back again to Nigeria from the Niger Republic has ultimately been convicted of stealing general public resources. What a tragedy!

In accordance to an editorial in The Guardian Newspaper of November 7, 2017, “Appointed in 2010 by the administration of previous President Goodluck Jonathan to sanitise the corruption-ridden pension workplace, Maina, three a long time later on, was alleged to have misappropriated pension money to the tune of billions. A Senate committee established up to examine the allegation, summoned him, and issued a bench warrant for his arrest, but to no avail. Whilst it is a actuality that no court conclusively prosecuted him, the cost of impropriety seemed to have weighed on him hence he fled the region and was consequently dismissed from the civil provider and declared desired.”

The editorial went on to say, “Despite the truth that regulation enforcement establishments these types of as the Senate, the Economic and Economic Crimes Fee, the Federal Superior Court docket, the Nigerian Police and INTERPOL had been on Maina’s path for yrs to result in him to defend himself, Maina, incredibly, continue to discovered his way into the civil company, received his work back with accelerated promotion from stage 14 to degree 16. He also got a backlog of salary arrears to the tune of N22 million paid by the govt..” Can you beat that? That was a man allegedly declared wished.

The aforementioned editorial characterised the convict in the adhering to phrases: “Maina exemplifies the character of the regular Nigerian: one particular who is neither worried nor ashamed of remaining a dwelling contradiction one who is at at the time a reformer and a deformer one who flaunts impunity like a way of life, however runs to the paternalistic arm of the regulation in order to obviate the wrath of the law just one who treats the governing administration with disdain, nevertheless seeks to continue to be portion of that federal government. Maina is the incredibly representation of the emboldened Nigerian conceit that emerges from the cesspool of a weakening, invested, pretentious and apparently toothless anti-corruption equipment.”

In my individual impression, Maina was provided a delicate landing by the courtroom. How occur his son obtained 14 many years imprisonment for aiding and abetting his father in crime whilst the principal actor, Maina got only 8 yrs? Why did the bankers and the financial institutions who assisted him to open fictitious accounts, which he applied to launder dollars, not get punished? I watched Maina on tv soon after his conviction as he smiled and waved at his supporters with no exhibiting any indication of regret.

It is pretty unfortunate and saddening that Maina betrayed the public trust by looting the pension fund he was intended to assist protected and pay back to retired civil servants. There is no question that Maina is an evil servant and not a civil servant. The blood of those senior citizens whom he defrauded of their entitlements will be on him and his co-travellers who abused their community office for own aggrandisement.  I have a hunch that Maina was just a mere fall person as he could not have solely manipulated the technique to his advantage. He was just chairman of a Pension Reform Process Workforce. Could he, as a team direct, pull off this monumental fraud all by himself devoid of getting aided by any of his colleagues in the civil support and by some of his team users? Maina in fact validated Ayi Kwei Armah’s basic book, “The Beautyful Kinds Are Not But Born”