The Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered the remand of Faisal Maina, son of former Chairman of the defunct Pension Reform Task Team, Abdulrasheed Maina, at a correctional centre to serve his seven-year prison sentence for money laundering.

Justice James Omotosho issued the order on Thursday after granting an ex parte application filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), seeking a warrant for Faisal's commitment to the Nigeria Correctional Service.

The commission had asked the court to enforce the conviction and sentence imposed on him for money laundering and failure to fully disclose his assets in an asset declaration form.

It also requested that his prison term should commence from October 14, 2026, when operatives of the Department of State Services arrested him in the Karsana area of Abuja.

Faisal was subsequently handed over to the EFCC, approximately six years after jumping bail and disappearing during his trial.

Following an application moved by the EFCC's counsel, M.K. Hussain, the judge granted the reliefs sought and directed that Faisal serve three years' imprisonment on the first count, seven years on the second count and three years on the third count.

The sentences, in line with the Court of Appeal's judgment of November 24, 2022, are to run concurrently, commencing from the date of his re-arrest.

Faisal was initially arraigned in 2019 on a three-count charge bordering on money laundering and failure to make full disclosure of his assets. He pleaded not guilty before the then trial judge, Justice Okon Abang.

However, he subsequently jumped bail and stopped attending court proceedings, prompting the court to continue his trial in his absence.

On October 7, 2021, Abang convicted him and sentenced him to five years' imprisonment on the first and third counts and 14 years on the second count, with the sentences running concurrently.

The judge also ordered his arrest wherever he was found and directed that he be transferred to a correctional centre to serve his sentence.

Although the Court of Appeal upheld the conviction in November 2022, it reduced the sentences to three years on the first and third counts and seven years on the second count, considering his status as a first-time offender.

Faisal's father, Abdulrasheed Maina, was separately convicted in a money laundering case involving approximately ₦2 billion in pension funds and has since completed his prison sentence.