Tunde Oyesina 
The embattled former Chairman of the Pension Reform Task Team (PRTT), Abdulrasheed Maina, has petitioned the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN, demanding a review of the criminal charges filed against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). Maina wanted the AGF to, in the interest of justice, prevent the travesty, abuse of public office and malicious prosecutions being carried out by the EFCC against him by bringing his trial to a halt.
He also prayed the AGF to review all of the files involving him to ensure that his prosecution “is not malicious, mala fide and borne out of narrow interests to prevent accountability for the assets kept in the EFCC’s custody.” The petition dated August 31, 2020, written and endorsed by Edwin Inegedu Esq., on behalf of Maina, was made available to newsmen yesterday. The petition reads in part; “It is our further brief that our client’s persecution by the EFCC came to a head under the leadership of Mr. Ibrahim Magu.
“This was principally due to our client‘s demand that the EFCC should account for the sums and properties recovered by the PRTT, and kept in the EFCC’s custody”. The demand by Maina, according to the petitioner, “became necessary as our client was consistently accused of diversion of the funds recovered instead of accounting for the sums and properties in its custody.” Maina claimed that the EFCC maintained a campaign of calumny against him to obfuscate the issues and divert attention from its inability to account for the properties in its custody.
The Federal Government on Friday arraigned the former boss of t Pension Reform Taskforce, Abdul- Rasheed Maina, on a 12-count corruption charge before Justice Okon Abang of the Federal High Court, Abuja. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) was prosecuting Maina on a 12-count charge bothering on corruption and money laundering.
He, however, pleaded not guilty to all the 12-count charge. Maina, though admitted to bail, spent about nine months in custody due to his inability to perfect his bail conditions. The bail terms were later reviewed to enable him meet them.
