Justice Okon Abang of the Federal High Court in Abuja has sentenced Faisal, son of the Chairman, defunct Pension Reform Task Team (PRTT), Abdulrasheed Maina, to 14 years imprisonment.
In his judgment delivered on Thursday, Justice Abang held that Faisal, who was sentenced in absentia, was guilty of all the three-count charge preferred against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFFC).
Justice Okon, who handed down a five-year jail term for count one bordering on money laundering offences, sentenced Faisal to 14 years imprisonment on count two.
The judge, who ordered the Federal Government to get Faisal arrested anywhere he is found in the country, also ordered that an arrest warrant for his extradition should be issued against him if found outside the country in order for him to serve his prison term.
Justice Okon also dismissed an application by Faisal’s lawyer, Mr A.A. Onoja, for allocutus (a plea for leniency) after his client’s conviction, saying such a request could not have been granted since Faisal was not in court.
The judge further held that Faisal , who was not in court, jumped bail and had been on the run.
Theideal recalls that that Justice Abang had on July 16, fixed the matter for judgment after the then EFCC’s lawyer, Mohammed Abubakar, adopted the commission’s final written address and urged the court to convict Faisal in all the three counts levelled against him.
Abubakar added that, “the prosecution has proved the case beyond all reasonable doubt.”
Onoja, who did not file any final written address, had sought for an adjournment on the grounds that he was not briefed on the development in the case.
But the EFCC lawyer opposed his plea for an adjournment, arguing that on March 17 when the case was adjourned, Anayo Adibe, who appeared for Faisal, did not apply to file any written address, even after the ruling was delivered, saying that “four months since that day, the defence has not done anything.”
Justice Abang, who dismissed the application for adjournment, held that the request was made in bad faith.
Faisal, who is being prosecuted along with his father, Maina, is standing a separate trial on a three-count charge bordering on money laundering. He, however, pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
Faisal, who was arraigned by the EFCC on October 25, 2019, was admitted to bail on November 26, 2019, in the sum of N60 million with a surety in the like sum who must be a member of the House of Representatives.
However, Faisal jumped bail around September 2020 and stopped attending his trial.
The judge, on November 25, 2020, summoned the lawmaker, Rep Sani Dan-Galadima, representing Kaura-Namoda Federal Constituency of Zamfara, who stood as surety for Faisal, for disregarding court order to produce the defendant in court after he was granted bail.
Abang then revoked the bail granted Faisal, ordered his arrest and directed that his trial should proceed in absentia having been said to have jumped bail by the prosecution.
The judge also ordered the surety to forfeit the property which he used as a bail bond to the Federal Government, having failed to produce Faisal.
