The Abuja Division of the Federal High Court on Monday sentenced a former chairman of now-defunct Pension Reforms Task Team, Abdulrasheed Maina to 61 years in jail after finding him guilty of money laundering and racketeering.

However, Maina will spend only eight years in prison as the sentences are stipulated to run concurrently by Justice Okon Abang.

Delivering the judgement, Justice Abang also found him guilty of concealing his true identity as signatory to accounts opened in UBA and Fidelity Bank by using the identity of his family members without their knowledge.

These accounts were said to have cash deposits of N300 million, N500 million and N1.5 billion.

The court held that Maina stole monies meant for pensioners as he could not prove where he got same from.

Justice Abang also held that through Maina’s service as a civil servant, his salary and emoluments would not amount to the monies in these accounts.

The court further held that the prosecution (the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission), produced essential evidence through witnesses called, to prove beyond reasonable doubt that Maina was also guilty of money laundering in sum of N171,099,000.