The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has disclosed its next line of action following the arrest of Faisal Maina, son of former chairman of the defunct Pension Reform Task Team, Abdulrasheed Maina, after six years on the run.
The commission confirmed it has taken custody of Faisal after his arrest by operatives of the Department of State Services, DSS, in Abuja.
EFCC spokesperson, Dele Oyewale, who made the disclosure on Saturday, said the commission would obtain a court order to transfer him to a correctional centre to serve his prison sentence.
“The necessary court order will be obtained to take him to the Correctional Centre for him to serve his sentence,” Oyewale said.
Faisal was reportedly arrested in the Karsana area of Abuja after intelligence gathered by the DSS indicated he had secretly returned to Nigeria.
“His arrest followed credible intelligence which indicated that Faisal had secretly returned to the country,” a security source familiar with the operation said.
The source added that DSS operatives tracked Faisal to Karsana, where he was apprehended before being handed over to the EFCC.
A spokesperson for the DSS also confirmed that Faisal was arrested on Thursday and subsequently transferred to the anti-graft agency.
Faisal had been on the run since 2020 after allegedly breaching his bail conditions and leaving the country while facing a three-count charge bordering on money laundering.
Although absent during subsequent proceedings, his trial continued and ended with his conviction by the Federal High Court in Abuja in October 2021.
Justice Okon Abang sentenced him to 14 years imprisonment after finding him guilty.
The case centred on allegations that Faisal operated a fictitious account with United Bank for Africa, UBA, in the name of “Alhaji Faisal Farm 2”, through which his father allegedly laundered N58.1 million between October 2013 and June 2019.
Following the judgment, Faisal challenged his conviction at the Court of Appeal, which in November 2022 upheld the conviction but reduced his sentence from 14 years to seven years, ruling that the trial court should not have imposed the maximum sentence on a first-time offender.
The development has also revived public interest in the corruption case involving his father, Abdulrasheed Maina, who was convicted in a separate case involving about N2 billion in pension funds and served an eight-year sentence at Kuje Correctional Centre before being released earlier in 2026, but has since been declared wanted over an alleged case of receiving stolen property.