After six years on the run, the long hands of the law finally caught up with Faisal Maina, son of former chairman of the defunct Pension Reform Task Team, Abdulrasheed Maina.
He has been arrested by the Department of State Security (DSS) and handed over to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
This was confirmed by the commission’s spokesperson, Dele Oyewale, who told newsmen that the younger Maina was in their custody, and that a necessary court order would be needed to transfer him to a correctional centre to serve his prison sentence.
“Confirmed. The necessary court order will be obtained to take him to the Correctional Centre for him to serve his sentence,” he said in response to inquiries.
Faisal was reportedly arrested by DSS operatives in the Karsana area of Abuja after intelligence indicated that he had secretly returned to Nigeria.
The EFCC had successfully prosecuted Faisal, who had been on the run since 2020, in a money laundering case in absentia.
He allegedly breached his bail conditions and fled the country while facing a three-count charge bordering on money laundering.
His trial continued in his absence, culminating in his conviction by the Federal High Court in Abuja in October 2021. The trial judge, Okon Abang, sentenced him to 14 years’ imprisonment.
The court found that Faisal operated a fictitious account with United Bank for Africa (UBA), through which his father allegedly laundered N58.1 million.
The funds were deposited into an account operated in the name of “Alhaji Faisal Farm 2” and subsequently withdrawn by Faisal and his father between October 2013 and June 2019.
In November 2022, the Court of Appeal upheld his conviction but reduced his sentence from 14 years to seven years, ruling that the trial court should not have imposed the maximum sentence on a first-time offender.
Faisal’s father, Mr Maina, served an eight-year prison sentence at the Kuje Correctional Centre in Abuja after his conviction for laundering N2 billion in pension funds. He was released earlier in 2026 but has since been declared wanted over an alleged case of receiving stolen property.
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