The Court of Appeal in Abuja has upheld the conviction of Faisal, the son of Abdulrasheed Maina, for conspiracy and money laundering.
Maina, the former chairman of the defunct Pension Reform Taskforce Team, is currently serving an eight-year jail term at Kuje Prison in Abuja for pension fraud to the tune of N2 billion and his son has been named an accomplice.
Delivering judgment on Thursday, a three-member panel of the appeal court reduced the term of imprisonment from 14 years to seven years on the grounds that Faisal is a first-time offender.
In the judgment by Justice Ugochukwu Anthony Ogakwu, the court held that Justice Okon Abang of the Federal High Court, Abuja was right to have convicted Faisal.
Ogakwu added “But as a first-time offender, the trial court ought not to have handed the convict the maximum punishment under the law”.
