Mairo Bashir, a witness in the ongoing trial of
Abdulrasheed Maina, former chairman of the Pension Reform Task Team (PRTT),
told a federal high court on Friday that Maina’s sister was the certified owner
of one of the bank accounts allegedly used to launder money.
Bashir, who was the first
prosecution witness presented by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission
(EFCC), is a business manager in the bank.
She told the court that although
Maina’s sister’s name was used to open the account, the defendant himself was
the one operating the account.
“Abdulrasheed Maina is the one
operating common input and property investment limited account. What he did was
that he presented the picture of his sister, Fatima Abdulahi Samaila, on the
certificate of incorporation but the signature was for Maina,” she said.
“The only time contact with Fatima
was when he told me to call her to give me
her BVN number.”
Under cross-examination by Esther
Uzoma, Maina’s counsel, Bashir said she only got to find out that Maina was the
signatory to the account when he visited her at her office and signed a cheque.
When asked if she reported the
situation to the bank authorities or relevant agencies, she said: “I did not
inform the institution so they did not know.”
She said that she carried on with
the defendant’s transactions with a “drive for deposit”.
Bashir also admitted that she was
related to Maina and that he bears her son’s educational responsibilities in
Dubai.
Maina is facing charges up to 12
counts bothering on money laundering to the tune of over N2 billion.
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