On Monday, a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja held that Maina stole over N2 billion belonging to pensioners.
Former Chairman of the defunct Pension Reform Task Team (PRTT), Abdulrasheed Maina, is currently “living like a king” in a well-furnished, air-conditioned space at the Kuje correctional facility.
According to a report by FIJ, a prison source said Maina, who was sentenced to prison for money laundering, has never been to a prison cell.
On Monday, a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja held that Maina stole over N2 billion belonging to pensioners.
It said most of the victims “have died without reaping the fruits of their labour”.
Justice Okon Abang, the trial judge held, “I find the defendant (Mr Maina) guilty and convicted in count 2, 6, 9, 3, 7 and 10
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC in a statement by its spokesperson, Wilson Uwujaren, had said Maina was wanted for his role in the fraudulent biometric contracts through which he, a former Head of Service, Steve Oronsaye, and two others allegedly stole over N2 billion of pension funds.
But on Monday, the court convicted and sentenced Maina to 61 years in prison for money laundering.
However, the former PRTT chairman will only spend eight years in jail as his sentence will commence
Meanwhile, prison sources told the newspaper that the former PRTT boss had never been to a prison cell.
A source told the newspaper, “Which Maina? Maina that since he was admitted to Kuje correctional facility, he has never seen a cell.
“He has been living in the hospital inside the facility; it is more or less like a living room. He lives inside one of the rooms in the hospital building — not in the hospital ward itself.”
A second prison source told FIJ that Maina was “living like a king” in prison, even though some other high-profile prisoners, such as Jolly Nyame, former Governor of Taraba State, and Farouk Lawan, former House of Representatives member, are indeed in cells.
Nyame is serving a 12-year jail term for misappropriation of funds while he was governor of Taraba State from 1999 to 2007, while Lawan is serving a seven-year jail term for demanding a $3 million bribe and receiving $500,000 in two tranches from businessman Femi Otedola.
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“Maina is a northerner treated like a king. He is living large inside a well-furnished room in the hospital,” the second source said. “Even Farouk Lawan is inside his cell in Custody 4; Jolly Nyame is in Custody 3 downstairs.”
