A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, Tuesday, ordered the interim forfeiture of 23 landed properties belonging to Abdulrasheed Maina, former chairman, Presidential Task Team on Pension Matters.
He is to be formally arraigned on Friday on 12-count charge before Justice Okon Abang of Federal High Court, Abuja.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in an ex-parte application filed by the commission’s lawyer, Mustapha Abubakar, had approached the court seeking an order of interim forfeiture of the properties, alleging that they were acquired through proceeds of unlawful activities.
The motion was brought pursuant to Section 17(1) and (3) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act 2006.
The properties include houses, estates, companies, among others located in Abuja, Kaduna, Borno, Sokoto and Nasarawa states.
Delivering ruling on the application, Justice Folashade Giwa, who ordered the interim forfeiture of the 23 properties, said the EFCC should publish the order in a national newspaper within 14 days. The matter was adjourned till November 19 for mention.
In the affidavit deposed to by an investigative officer with the EFCC, and head of the investigative team, Mohammed Goji, said sometime in 2010, the commission was invited by the office of the head of the civil service of the federation to assist in the verification exercise of the federal civil service pensions.
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“That in the course of the exercise, two fake pensioners were discovered, leading to a large scale investigation for more pensioners.
“That in the course of the investigation, it was discovered that large scale corruption in form of stealing and money laundering of pension funds had taken place spearheaded by one Abdulrasheed Maina, who was the chairman of the Rension Reform Task Team, along with his accomplices.
“That the said Abdurasheed Maina alongside one of his cohorts, Stephen Orosanye, the former head of the service of the federation had set out to siphon funds belonging to the federal civil service pensioners by setting up a fraudulent nationwide biometric enrollment exercise for pensioners no federal government payroll under auspices of a pension reform committee.”
The anti-graft commission thus sought for “an interim order of forfeiture to the Federal Government of Nigeria of the assets and properties listed in the schedule to this motion.
“An order of this honourable directing the publication of the interim order of forfeiture in any national daily newspaper inviting any person(s) or body who may have interest in the assets and properties listed in the schedule to show cause, within 14 days of such publication, why a final order of forfeiture to the federal government of Nigeria if the said assets and properties should not be made.
“Such further or other order(s) as the honourable court may deem fit to make in the circumstances.”
The EFCC alleged, among others, that Maina and Orosanye siphoned pension through a phony company, Innovative Solution Limited. It said they invited the company to help in the verification exercise with the sum of N63 million.
Innovative Solution went ahead to partner with two other companies owned by Osaretin Osarenkhoe Afe and “that anytime payment money was made paid into Innovative Solution”, the three companies shared the money on the orders of Afe.
The commission also said that the initial contract sum was N63m and the company later asked for an extension of time with N136m addition which jerked up the whole sum to N199m.
The commission will arraign Maina on 12-count charges, bothering on money laundering, operating fictitious bank accounts and fraud. Also to be arraigned the same day, in the same court on a separate but similar charge is his son, Faisal.
