The Court of Appeal, on Thursday, upheld the conviction of Faisal, the son of the jailed former Chairman of the defunct Pension Reform Taskforce Team (PRTT), Abdulrasheed Maina, for conspiracy and money laundering.

A three-member panel of the appellate court also reduced his term of imprisonment from 14 to seven on the grounds that he is a first-time offender.

In the judgement delivered by Justice Ugochukwu Ogakwu, the court held that Justice Okon Abang of the Federal High Court in Abuja was right to have convicted Faisal.

The appellate court was of the view that being a first-time offender, the trial court ought not to have handed the convict the maximum punishment under the law.

The convict had approached the court of appeal to register his disagreement with the trial court’s judgement.

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Justice Okon Abang, on October 7, 2021, held that Faisal, who was sentenced in absentia, was guilty of all the three-count charge preferred against him by EFCC

Abang sentenced him to a five-year jail term in count one bordering on money laundering offenses, and 14 years imprisonment on count two.

The judge also sentenced him to five years in prison on count three which bordered on asset declaration offense.

Abang however, ruled that the prison terms would run concurrently.

Abang said the EFCC proved beyond reasonable doubt that Faisal operated a fictitious bank account with the United Bank for Africa (UBA), through which his father, Mr Maina, laundered the sum of N58.1 million.

The court noted that the funds deposited into the account that was operated in the name of Alhaji Faisal Farm 2 were sequentially withdrawn by the convict and his father, between October 2013 and June 2019.

The Star