Intelligence Operatives Arrest Ex-Pension Boss, Maina In Niger Republic
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| He has been arrested in the Niger Republic, but we have not yet brought him into Nigeria |
Operatives of the Nigerian Intelligence Agency and the Niger Republic Intelligence Service have arrested a former chairman of the defunct Pension Reform Task Team, Abdulrasheed Maina, who is facing a 12-count money laundering charge levelled against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
Intelligence sources confirmed that Maina was arrested on Monday evening somewhere in the Niger Republic and would be brought into Nigeria Tuesday or Wednesday.
"He has been arrested in the Niger Republic, but we have not yet brought him into Nigeria. He is going to be brought in Tuesday or Wednesday. But he has been arrested," one of the sources said.
According to the EFCC, Maina is facing money laundering charges to the tune of about N2 billion, part of which he allegedly used to procure land properties in Abuja.
He has fled trial and his whereabouts unknown since his prosecution resumed on September 29, 2020, a development which made Justice Okon Abang of the Federal High Court order Senator Ali Ndume's remand last Monday.
Ndume was Maina's surety. The Federal High Court in Abuja only on Friday granted bail to the Borno South Senator.
Maina last attended court on July 2, 2020, during the cross-examination of the sixth prosecution witness by his legal team.
He failed to show up in court since September 29, 2020, prompting the judge, Justice Okon Abang, to adjudge him as having jumped bail in a ruling delivered on November 18, 2020.
The judge, in the November 18 ruling, revoked the bail earlier granted him. He ordered his arrest and directed that his trial would proceed in his absence.
There was also no lawyer to represent him or his company charged along with him as his second defendant.