The judge threatened to revoke the defendant’s bail over what he described as repeated attempts to stall the proceedings.
The trial of Abdulrasheed Maina, former chairman of the defunct Pension Reform Task Team, continued on Thursday before Justice Abubakar Kutigi of the Federal Capital Territory High Court, Asokoro, Abuja.
The judge threatened to revoke the defendant’s bail over what he described as repeated attempts to stall the proceedings.
Maina is standing trial on allegations bordering on the diversion and laundering of about N738.6 million in pension funds, preferred against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.
Proceedings on Thursday were almost stalled following the presentation of a hospital referral letter by Maina’s counsel, Mr Achibong, who requested an adjournment on the grounds that the defendant was unwell and unable to attend court.
However, the court was visibly displeased after examining the document, which failed to disclose any specific illness or medical condition warranting the defendant’s absence.
Justice Kutigi frowned at what he described as the lack of seriousness with which the defendant had treated the case, noting that the matter had failed to gain momentum over the past four years due to “diverse antics” employed by Maina to frustrate his trial.
The judge lamented that despite several opportunities given to the defendant to appear in court and respond to the allegations against him, proceedings had been consistently delayed.
Justice Kutigi regretted that Maina’s antics “have stalled proceedings completely,” pointing out that the last time the defendant was physically present in court was about four years ago.
He warned that the court was left with no option but to consider drastic measures to compel compliance, including revoking the defendant’s bail.
The judge stated that he was prepared to revoke Maina’s bail if the conduct continued, stressing that bail was not granted to enable an accused person to ridicule the judicial process.
While refusing the defence counsel’s request for an adjournment, Justice Kutigi disclosed that he had secured the commitment of the chambers of the defence lawyers that the trial would henceforth proceed “with or without Maina’s presence in court.”
Following the dismissal of the adjournment application, prosecution counsel, Francis Usani, moved to continue with the case and presented the 14th Prosecution Witness, PW14, Gogi Mohammed.
The witness, an investigator with the EFCC, continued his evidence-in-chief from where he stopped at the last adjourned date.
Led in evidence by the prosecution counsel, Mohammed told the court that investigations conducted by the EFCC uncovered widespread abuse of office and manipulation of pension funds during Maina’s tenure.
He disclosed that the investigative team’s visit to Kaduna revealed that “the first defendant used members of staff of the Office of the Head of Service of the Federation, HoSF to siphon funds through payments of fictitious contract, allowances and biometric enrolment exercise for pensioners.”
According to the witness, the Commission’s investigation further revealed that Maina operated through proxies and relatives to conceal proceeds of the alleged crimes.
“In our efforts to discover where the funds were hidden, we discovered a certain relative of the defendant, one Maimuna Usman, who resides in Kaduna, who was a custodian of his assets,” Mohammed told the court.
He added, “We went to her residence, somewhere in Gwando MSC Quarters. We arrested her and executed a search warrant on her residence and discovered titled documents, deed of assignments, certificate of occupancy of over 30 properties, located mostly in Abuja and Kaduna State.”
The witness further informed the court that during interrogation, the suspect admitted that the documents were handed to her by Maina for safekeeping.
“In the course of interviewing her, she disclosed that the documents were given to her by the first defendant,” he said.
Mohammed also testified that following interviews with real estate agents involved in the sale of the properties, the EFCC initiated forfeiture proceedings against the assets suspected to have been acquired with proceeds of crime.
Giving details of some of the transactions, the witness said several of the properties were purchased with cash payments running into millions of dollars.
According to him, “Some of the properties were paid for in cash, particularly the property located in Jabi, Abuja. It was paid by Mr. Abdulrasheed Maina in cash in the sum of $2 million (Two million dollars).”
He added that “another, located in Life Camp, Abuja, was purchased in cash at the cost of $1.7 million (One Million, Seven Hundred Thousand Dollars).”
The witness further told the court that another property located along Katoru Road in Kaduna State “was purchased at the cost of N100 million and it was paid for in cash.”
The EFCC investigator explained that the pattern of cash purchases formed part of the Commission’s findings linking the properties to proceeds of unlawful activities.
Justice Kutigi adjourned further hearing in the matter to a later date, warning that the court would no longer tolerate delays aimed at frustrating the trial.
SaharaReporters earlier reported that Maina was said to have been hospitalised after falling due to 'untreated knee injury'.