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.
Top Intelligence sources confirmed that Maina was arrested on Monday evening somewhere in the Niger Republic and would be brought into Nigeria Tuesday or Wednesday.
Maina, a former Chairman of the Pension Reform Task Team (PRTT), is facing a 12-count money laundering charge levelled against him and a firm by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
EFCC, alleged that Maina, as Chairman of the defunct Pension Reform Task Team, used the account of the firm for money laundering to the tune of about N2 billion, part of which he used to acquire landed properties in Abuja.
He, however, has not been attending trial since the September 29, 2020 proceedings, a development that prompted Justice Okon Abang of the Federal High Court to order Senator Ali Ndume’s remand last Monday.
But the Federal High Court in Abuja on Friday granted bail to the Borno South Senator, over his suretyship for Maina, believed to have jumped bail.
Justice Abang, in a ruling, said he chose to grant the senator bail based on his record of good behaviour before the court, notwithstanding that the other grounds of his bail application failed.
The judge granted bail to the senator pending the hearing and determination of Ndume’s appeal filed at the Court of Appeal to challenge Monday’s order sending him to jail for his inability to produce the fleeing Maina.
