Abuja Court Finds Pension Fraudster, Maina Guilty Of Money Laundering, Corruption

The judge also found Maina guilty of purchasing a property in Abuja for which he paid with $1.4 million cash, which is above the statutory threshold of N5 million and without passing through a financial institution, describing it as a criminal offense.

Justice Abang also found Maina guilty of concealing his true identity as signatory to accounts opened in two new generation banks by using the identity of his family members without their knowledge.

These accounts had cash deposits of N300 million, N500 million and N1.5 billion, which the judge found that Maina stole from pensioners because he could not prove where he got the said finds from.

The judge noted that through out Maina’s service as a civil servant his salary and emoluments could not have amounted to the monies in the accounts.

He noted that the prosecution produced essential evidence through witnesses called to prove beyond reasonable doubt that Maina is also guilty of money laundering to the tune of N171,099,000.

The judge said the amount formed part of the proceeds of unlawful act.

“I find the defendant (Mr Maina) guilty and convicted in count 2, 6, 9, 3, 7 and 10,” the judge said.

The judge, who is currently listening to plea for mercy (allocutus) from the defence lawyer, has pronounced on the sentence.