Maina Asks Malami to Review Fraud Charges against Him

Maina Asks Malami to Review Fraud Charges against Him

Ejiofor Alike

The former Chairman of the defunct Pension Reform Task Team, Mr. Abdulrasheed Maina, who is being prosecuted on money laundering charges involving alleged diversion of pension funds, yesterday wrote to the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami (SAN), asking for a review of the case him.

The Premium Times reported that Maina alleged in the letter that the case instituted against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission was a product of persecution by the commission’s suspended acting Chairman, Mr. Ibrahim Magu.

The letter dated August 31, 2020, but received by the AGF office yesterday, was signed on Maina’s behalf by his lawyer, Edwin Inegedu, of Pitcher and Courts.

He urged Malami to review all the cases involving him to ensure that his prosecution was not malicious.

“Our client’s prosecution by the EFCC came to a head principally due to his demand that the EFCC should account for the sums and property recovered by the PRTT, and kept in the EFCC’s custody.

“The petition became necessary as our client was consistently accused by the anti-graft agency of diversion of the funds recovered instead of accounting for the sums and property in its custody.”

Maina alleged that a campaign of calumny was lunched against him “to obfuscate the issues and divert attention from the inability to account for the property recovered by the task force”.

He appealed for a review of the cases on the grounds that he had at all times, performed his duties in the best interest of the nation and not his personal interest.

Maina’s request for request for a review of the case was not specific, but his letter urged the AGF to review all the case files involving him “to prevent the travesty abuse of public office and malicious prosecution being carried out by the EFCC”.

Maina stated in the letter that as the Chairman of PRTT, he and his team members, including the representatives of the EFCC, and the Department of State Service, recovered the sum of N1.63trn and a total of 237 landed assets.

He also alleged that the EFCC under Magu’s watch started persecuting him after he demanded accountability of the recovered assets kept in the commission’s custody.

The letter stated, in part, “This was principally due to our client‘s demand that the EFCC should account for the sums and properties recovered by the PRTT, and kept in the EFCC’s custody.

Related Articles