A former Chairman of the defunct Pension Reform Task Team, Abulrasheed Maina has been returned to Nigeria from Niger Republic to face his ongoing money laundering trial.
Maina, who was arrested in Niger after jumping bail, was received by men of the Nigeria Police Force at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport on Thursday.
The aircraft carrying the former Chairman of the defunct Pension Reform Task Team landed at the Airport at 2.15 pm.
Mr. Maina is standing trial for alleged money laundering to the tune of 2 billion naira.
Speaking with journalists, the Commissioner of Police in charge of Interpol said Mr Maina was brought back to Nigeria on the directive of the IGP, Mohammed Adamu.
Meanwhile, the Federal High Court in Abuja on Thursday granted permission to a lawyer, Mr Ademola Adedipe, for permission to withdraw from the N2bn money laundering case involving the former Chairman of the defunct Pension Reform Task Team.
Adedipe, who was appearing for the second defendant in the case, Common Input Property and Investment Ltd, a firm said to be owned by Maina, had hinged his decision to quit the case on the grounds that his brief had not been perfected by the client.
But Justice Okon Abang had on November 25, 2020, turned down the application by the lawyer to quit the case.
The judge, in declining the application for withdrawal at the previous proceedings, said the application had yet to arrive the court file from the registry.
But acknowledging the application on Thursday, the judge issued an order discharging the lawyer from the case.
