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Appeal Court upholds Maina son’s conviction for money laundering

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The Court of Appeal on Thursday upheld the conviction of Faisal, the son of the former Chairman of the defunct Pension Reform Taskforce Team (PRTT), Abdulrasheed Maina, for conspiracy and money laundering.

Justice Okon Abang of the Federal High Court, Abuja, in had on 0ctober 7, 2021 sentenced the convict to 14 years in prison for the offence.

The judge held that the EFCC proved beyond reasonable doubt that Faisal operated a fictitious bank account with the United Bank for Africa (UBA), through which his father laundered the sum of N58.1million.

He noted that the funds deposited into the account that was operated in the name of Alhaji Faisal Farm 2 were sequentially withdrawn by the convict and his father, between October 2013 and June 2019.

Read also:‘Maina feigning sickness to escape from custody,’ Aregbesola tells court

However, in Thursday’s proceeding, a three-member panel of the appellate court reduced his term of imprisonment from 14 to seven on the grounds that he was a first-time offender.

Justice Ugochukwu Ogakwu, who delivered the lead judgment, held that the lower court was right to have convicted Faisal.

However, the appellate court was of the view that the lower court ought not to have handed the convict the maximum punishment under the law as a first-time offender.

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