By Babajide Okeowo
Following the extradition of the former Chairman of Pension Reform Task Team (PRTT), Abdulrasheed Maina to Nigeria by INTERPOL on December 3, 2020, a prosecution witness, Rouqayyah Ibrahim has revealed how the embattled former PRTT bought a property worth $2 million in the Jabi area of Abuja.
Ibrahim, while testifying before Justice Okong Abang of the Federal High Court in Abuja, also revealed how Maina acquired properties in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, as well as the United States.
Ibrahim, who is the prosecution witness nine (PW9) and a detective of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), told the court that a prosecution witness, Adamu Modibbo, who testified to the EFCC regarding the said Jabi property, reportedly died of COVID-19 after his statement to the commission.
She added 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 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,” Ibrahim disclosed.
She 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.
The EFCC operative stated that the investigation showed that Colster Logistics, belonging to Maina, had a Fidelity Bank dollar account which had an inflow of over $400,000 from cash deposits as at the time the company was investigated.
She said over N500 million was discovered in the account of Kangolo Dynamic, within the years Maina was PRTT chairman.
According to the witness, in the course of the investigation, letters were written to the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), to verify the authenticity of the driver’s license used in opening some of the accounts; Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) for Maina’s declared assets; Federal Civil Service Commission, Office of the Head of Service of the Federation (HOSF), and Accountant-General of the Federation (AGF), to confirm if Maina was still a civil servant and for his payslips.
Recall that Mr. Maina was extradited to Nigeria by INTERPOL on December 3, 2020, days after he was arrested in the Niger Republic.
