Barely one week after the arrest of his fugitive father, Abdulrasheed Maina, former chairman of the defunct Pension Reform Taskforce Team, security operatives have apprehended fleeing Faisal Maina.
Faisal is currently being detained by security agencies.
His father, Maina, had jumped bail in his ongoing N2bn money laundering trial at the Federal High Court in Abuja, but he was arrested in the Republic of Niger and brought back to the court.
Faisal, who is being prosecuted in a separate three-count money laundering case at the same court, had jumped bail and stopped attending trial which had though continued in his absence.
On November 24, 2020, Justice Okon Abang revoked the bail granted Faisal and ordered his arrest.
Justice Abang also ordered the fleeing defendant’s surety, who is a member of the House of Representatives representing Kaura-Namoda Federal Constituency, Umar Dan-Galadima, to appear in court.
But at the resumed hearing in the case on Thursday, surety’s lawyer, Mr. M. E. Sheriff, urged the court to suspend the hearing of the forfeiture proceedings on the grounds that he got information that Faisal had been arrested.
“My lord, I was reliably informed that the Defendant had been arrested. He was arrested last night and he is in custody,” the lawyer said.
Prosecution counsel, Mr. Faruk Abdullah, confirmed the development but said the defendant had not been handed over to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.