THE Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has declared the former chairman of the defunct Pension Reform Task Team, Abdulrasheed Abdullahi Maina, wanted over an alleged case of receiving stolen property.
The development comes years after Maina was convicted and sentenced by a Federal High Court in Abuja over offences connected with money laundering and the alleged diversion of pension funds. The EFCC’s latest notice specifically identifies the allegation as receiving stolen properties.
The notice was signed by the Commission’s Head of Media and Publicity, Dele Oyewale, on Wednesday.
Maina, alongside his son, Faisal, was arraigned on October 25, 2019, on a 12-count charge bordering on money laundering and concealment of proceeds of unlawful acts.
He was subsequently convicted by Justice Okon Abang of the Federal High Court, Abuja, with the EFCC stating that the case involved an alleged N2 billion pension fraud. The judge imposed a cumulative 61-year prison sentence, with the terms to run concurrently.
The former pension reform task team boss was convicted on counts 2, 6, 9, 3, 7 and 10 of the charges filed against him.
The court also found him guilty of concealing his identity as a signatory to accounts opened with United Bank for Africa (UBA) and Fidelity Bank. According to the case, Maina used the identities of family members to operate some of the accounts without their knowledge.
The accounts were said to have received cash deposits of N300 million, N500 million and N1.5 billion, while the court held that Maina could not establish that the funds were not proceeds of unlawful activity.
The EFCC, in its latest public notice, said: “The public is hereby notified that ABDULRASHEED ABDULLAHI MAINA, whose photograph appears above is wanted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in an alleged case of Receiving Stolen Properties.”
The Commission identified Maina as 61 years old and an indigene of Biu, Borno State.
It urged anyone with useful information about his whereabouts to contact any of its offices in Ibadan, Uyo, Sokoto, Maiduguri, Benin, Makurdi, Kaduna, Ilorin, Enugu, Kano, Lagos, Gombe, Port Harcourt or Abuja.
The EFCC also provided the telephone number 08093322644 and email address info@efcc.gov.ng, while asking members of the public to contact the nearest police station or other security agencies with relevant information.
The latest development comes against the background of Maina’s earlier prosecution, conviction and imprisonment in the pension-fraud case. EFCC records state that he was convicted on November 8, 2021, with the court also ordering him to return N1 billion to the Federal Government.