CACOL lauds FG, EFCC for confiscating Abdulrasheed Maina’s properties over money laundering
The Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership (CACOL) has applauded the Federal Government and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on its action for confiscating multi-million naira properties belonging to the former chairman of Pension Reforms Task Team, Abdulrasheed Maina over money laundering.
In a release by it Media and Publication Officer, Toyin Odofin on behalf of the Centre Executive Chairman, Debo Adeniran stated that “unless emphasis are placed on severity of punishment to certainty of mere detention of criminal offender, winning the fight against corruption would remain a hallucination.
“Following different corruption cases in the country, corruption has been the major setback of our system, ranging from money laundering, fraudulent act, bribery, and internet fraudster etc.
“The anti-graft agency has filed another motion to get an extended order to detain Maina, the former deputy director with the Customs, Immigration and Prisons Pension, CIPPO, who was handed over last week by the Department of State Services after being arrested in an undisclosed hotel in Abuja.
“It is heart lifting that many of our civil service system is so compromised and despoiled to the extent that many of the senior cadre workers in the sector were looting and engaging in ludicrous speculative and dubious transactions for personal enrichment at the expense of ordinary Nigerian resources.”
However, the group said it strongly believes that those properties which the operatives have traced in Nigeria and in other jurisdictions could have not been genuinely procured by a civil servant like Maina no matter how long he would have worked in the service.
Report has it that “beyond the houses, EFCC has traced five companies, which it claimed Maina also used to engage in money laundering and has asked him to provide details of the money in the accounts of the firms. The lists of the firms are Cluster Logistics, Drew Investment & Construction Ltd, Kongolo Dynamics Cleaning Ltd, Dr AbduUahi A. Faizal, Nafisatu Aliyu Yeldu and Abdulrasheed Abdullahi Maina.”
The CACOL boss added, “Imagine the immediate and remote implications of this particular heist, many Nigerians have been left licking their wounds due to the greed induced corruption of one man. Many who supposed to be beneficiary of the scheme have been wallowing in poverty, where they can’t boast of any assistance from government; meanwhile it is those entrusted with safe-keeping who are responsible for siphoning such money for their personal enrichment.
“This is why we enjoin the prosecution team to do a very diligent and meticulous trial to bring all known culprits to book by recovering all the looted funds and assets, while making them to cool their heels in prison to serve as necessary deterrent.”
