A Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered Faisal Maina, son of former Pension Reform Task Team (PRTT) Chairman Abdulrasheed Maina, into custody to begin serving a seven-year sentence for money laundering, nearly six years after he jumped bail and disappeared during his trial.
Justice James Omotosho issued the committal warrant on Thursday after granting an ex parte application by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), which sought enforcement of the conviction and sentence.
The court directed that Faisal be remanded in a correctional centre.
The EFCC asked that the sentence begin from October 14, 2026, when the Department of State Services rearrested Faisal in the Karsana area of Abuja.
He was subsequently handed over to the anti-graft agency.
Under the Court of Appeal’s November 24, 2022 judgment, Faisal is to serve three years on count one, seven years on count two and three years on count three.
The terms will run concurrently, making seven years the effective prison term, beginning October 14, 2026.
Faisal was arraigned in 2019 on three counts of money laundering and failure to fully disclose assets in a declaration form.
He pleaded not guilty before then-Federal High Court Justice Okon Abang, but later jumped bail and stopped attending proceedings.
The trial court continued in his absence and convicted him on October 7, 2021, imposing five years each on counts one and three and 14 years on count two, with the sentences running concurrently.
The judge also ordered his arrest wherever he was found.
The Court of Appeal upheld the conviction in November 2022 but reduced the sentences, describing the original 14-year term as excessive for a first-time offender.
The appellate court lowered the penalties to three years on counts one and three and seven years on count two.
His father, Abdulrasheed Maina, was separately convicted in a money-laundering case involving about N2 billion and has completed his prison sentence.
