EFCC witness: Maina acquired $2m property in Abuja

Rouqayyah Ibrahim, a prosecution witness, has alleged that Abdulrasheed Maina, former chairman of the defunct Pension Reform Task Force Team, owned property worth $2 million in Abuja.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is prosecuting Maina on a 12-count charge bordering on money laundering to the tune of N2 billion.

A judge had ordered Maina’s arrest following his refusal to appear in court after he went into hiding in September.

Ali Ndume, senator representing Borno south, who stood as his surety was remanded in prison custody, but was granted bail on the grounds that he has a record of “good behaviour”.

Maina was, however, extradited to Nigeria on Thursday, after he was arrested in Niger Republic.

Meanwhile, hearing on his case resumed on Thursday at the federal high court in Abuja.

The prosecution witness, who is also an EFCC detective, alleged that Maina had properties in Dubai, Abuja, and the US.

“Maina acquired properties in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, United States of America, and a $2million (Two Million USA Dollars), property in Jabi, Abuja.
The witness, who is an EFCC detective, revealed that a prosecution witness, Adamu Modibbo, who testified to the EFCC regarding the said Jabi, Abuja property, allegedly died of Covid-19 after his statement to the Commission,” a statement by the EFCC reads.

“She also revealed that about 32 documents, hard discs and flash drives relating to properties linked to Maina and his family and details of some of his investments in Dubai and in the US were recovered from him.

“Particularly in Dubai, investigation revealed that his company, Northrich Company, owned over 50 cars that were used for transportation business and he owns a villa in a High Ground area in Dubai. His wife, Laila Abdulrasheed, also owns cleaning services, called Spotless and Flawless. We also recovered pay slips during our investigation.

“The witness also disclosed that investigation proved that another of Maina’s company, Kangolo Dynamic, does no business, but that the defendant created a bank account for it in which his name did not appear anywhere on the account documentation even though he was in control of all the deposits in it.

“She also told the court that investigation showed that Colster Logistics, belonging to Maina, had a Fidelity Bank dollar account which had an inflow of over $400,000 (Four Hundred Thousand Dollars) from cash deposits as at the time the company was investigated.

“She further told the court that over N500 million was discovered in the account of Kangolo Dynamic, within the years Maina was chairman, PRTT.”

According to the EFCC, Ibrahim said in the course of the investigation, letters were written to the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), to verify the authenticity of the driver’s licence used to open some of the accounts, while the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) was contacted for Maina’s declared assets.

Other institutions contacted were the federal civil service commission, office of the head of service of the federation, and accountant-general of the federation, to confirm if Maina was still a civil servant and for his pay slips.

She also noted that letters were written to the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) for the tax returns of his companies and the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) for the registration documentation of the companies and their annual returns.

“All the documents and written responses of the government agencies were tendered as exhibits with prosecution counsel, M.S. Abubakar, praying the court to foreclose the right of the defendants to respond to the admissibility of the documents; hence they had no legal representation,” EFCC added.

The judge upheld the EFCC’s prayer, and adjourned the matter till December 4, 2020, for continuation of trial.