TheCable

The court of appeal has fixed February 8 to hear a suit filed by Abdulrasheed Maina, former chairman of the Pension Reform Task Team (PRTT), seeking to upturn his prison sentence over fraud.

On October 25, 2019, Maina was arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) — but he pleaded not guilty to a 12-count charge of money laundering to the tune of N2 billion.

On November 8, 2021, Okon Abang, the trial judge, sentenced Maina to eight years in prison.

The court ordered Maina and his firm, Common Input Property and Investment Limited, to forfeit about N2.1 billion traced to their bank accounts to the federal government, after which the company should be wound up.

Also, the court ordered that Maina’s properties at Life Camp and Jabi districts of Abuja should be forfeited to the government.

Not satisfied with the verdict, Maina appealed his conviction.

At the court session on Wednesday, a three-member panel chaired by Haruna Tsammani adjourned the matter over the inability of the appellant’s counsel to follow court guidelines in filing the suit.

Tsammani said the appellant did not comply with order 19 rule 3 of the court’s direction on filing, adding that the font size was not in compliance with the order.

Olusegun Jolaawo made legal appearance for Maina, while Farouk Abdullahi represented the EFCC.