A former chairman of the defunct Pension Reform Task Team, Abdulrasheed Maina, spent night in the police custody Thursday after his extradition from Niamey, Niger Republic.
He was nabbed in the Nigerien capital on Monday by the operatives of the Nigeria Police Force, International Criminal Police Organisation National Central Bureau, Abuja, in collaboration with their Nigerien counterparts.
The team from INTERPOL Nigeria, led by the Commissioner of Police INTERPOL, Garba Umar, having completed the necessary documentation requirements and other extradition processes flew the former pension boss into the country via NPF Jet 5N-HAR and landed at exactly 2:17pm.
Maina, who is being prosecuted on 12 counts of money laundering to the tune of N2bn by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, had jumped bail.
Maina was said to have stopped attending his trial since September 29, 2020, prompting Justice Abang Okon of the Federal High Court, Abuja, to order the remand of his surety, Senator Ali Ndume, last Monday.
The Inspector-General of Police, Muhammad Adamu, while applauding the trans-national/inter-agency collaborations that led to the successful arrest and extradition of the wanted fugitive, Thursday said Maina would continue to face legal actions.
Force spokesman, Frank Mba, who later confirmed Maina’s extradition in a statement, said, “The Nigeria Police Force has extradited Abdulrashid Abdullahi Maina, former chairman of the Pension Reform Task Team (PRTT), today, 3rd December, 2020, to Nigeria from Niamey, Niger Republic, where he was arrested having been declared wanted by a court of competent jurisdiction over a pending criminal trial against him.”
Meanwhile, the Federal High Court in Abuja, Thursday admitted 18 sets of exhibits tendered by the EFCC in evidence against Maina.
The EFCC told the court that Maina used a bank account operated by his company, Common Input Properties & Investment Limited and laundered about N2bn.
It also alleged that he used part of the money to acquire landed properties in Abuja.
The EFCC also claimed that Maina used fictitious names to open and operate various bank accounts and recruited his relatives, who were, bankers to operate fake bank accounts through which illicit funds were channeled.
