The Department of State Services has arrested Faisal Maina, son of former Pension Reform Task Team Chairman Abdulrasheed Maina, in Abuja. This follows years of evading authorities.
According to The PUNCH, the DSS arrested Faisal following intelligence reports that he had secretly returned to Nigeria. He had fled prosecution over money laundering charges.
Security sources disclosed that operatives tracked him to the Karsana area of the Federal Capital Territory. He was apprehended there before being handed over to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
“His arrest followed credible intelligence which indicated that Faisal had secretly returned to the country,” a security source said.
The source confirmed that DSS operatives carried out the arrest and subsequently transferred him to the EFCC for further action.
Faisal Maina’s money laundering conviction
Faisal had been on the run since 2020 after the EFCC arraigned him on a three-count charge bordering on money laundering.
In October 2021, the Federal High Court in Abuja convicted him and sentenced him to 14 years’ imprisonment.
The trial judge, Justice Okon Abang, ruled that the anti-graft agency had established Faisal’s involvement in operating a fictitious United Bank for Africa account. This account was allegedly used by his father to launder N58.1m.
According to the court, the money was deposited into an account bearing the name Alhaji Faisal Farm 2.
The funds were subsequently withdrawn by Faisal and his father between October 2013 and June 2019.
Appeal court reduces prison sentence
In November 2022, the Court of Appeal upheld Faisal’s conviction but reduced his prison sentence from 14 years to seven years.
The appellate court ruled that the trial court should not have imposed the maximum punishment on a first-time offender.
Despite the reduction, Faisal remained a fugitive until his reported arrest by the DSS in Abuja.
His father, Abdulrasheed Maina, was also convicted in a separate money laundering case involving pension funds. He served a prison sentence before his release.
Faisal’s arrest marks a development in the enforcement of his conviction, several years after he fled prosecution.
However, the EFCC had not disclosed further details about the next stage of proceedings. Nor had they shared arrangements for enforcing the outstanding prison sentence at the time of the report.
