A Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered 23 properties which belongs to the former boss of Pension Reform Task Team, Abdurasheed Maina to be seized.
The order was granted on Tuesday by Justice Folasade Giwa-Ogunbanjo after hearing an ex parte motion by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
Mohammed Abubakar, who is the EFCC’s counsel suspected that the properties were obtained from illegal activities traced to Maina and his associates.
An order was also given by the court to direct the publication of the order of interim forfeiture in a national daily newspaper.
Abubakar said the newspaper publication was aimed at inviting any person or body with interest in the assets and properties listed in the schedule to show interest within 14 days of such publication why a final order of forfeiture to the Federal Government of the said assets and properties should not be made.
The motion was brought pursuant to Section 17(1) and (3) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act 2006.
The properties include houses, estates, companies, among others, located in Abuja, Kaduna, Borno and Nasarawa states.
The properties include a two-bedroomed semidetached located at Life Camp, Abuja and a plot of land in Cadastral Zone, Utako, both acquired in Maina’s wife’s name.
It also included a duplex located in Kaduna acquired in his son’s name and a plot of land in Cadastral Zone acquired in his mother’s name.
“That in the course of investigation, it was discovered that large scale corruption in the form of stealing and money laundering of pension fund had taken place, spearheaded by one Abdulrasheed Maina, who was the chairman of PRTT along with his accomplices.
“That the said Abdulrasheed Maina alongside one of his cohorts, Stephen Oronsanye, the former Head of the Civil Service of the Federation had set out to siphon funds belonging to the Federal Civil Service pensioners by setting up a fraudulent nationwide biometric enrolment exercise for pensioners on Federal Government payroll under the auspices of a Pension Reform Committee.”