The Federal High Court, Abuja, has ordered that the former chairman of the Pension Reform Task Team, PRTT, Abdulrasheed Maina, be remanded in the Nigerian Correctional Service’s centre.
The order given on Friday was pending the determination of the case against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.
Justice Okon Abang, who gave the order said the trial would commence on October 30.
It would be recalled that the court had on Tuesday, ordered the temporary forfeiture of 23 properties belonging to Maina.
The order was granted following a request to that effect by EFCC.
In the ex parte motion by its lawyer, Mohammed Abubakar, the EFCC said the properties were suspected to be funded with proceeds of unlawful activities by Maina.
Granting the order, Justice Folashade Giwa-Ogunbanjo said the order for the forfeiture of the property should be published in any national daily newspapers within 14 days.
This, the court said, was to enable anyone or group that might be interested to show why the property should not be finally forfeited.
The property are located in Abuja, Kaduna, Borno and Nasarawa.
Maina was allegedly involved in a pension fraud of over N100 billion, and dismissed from service by the Federal Civil Service Commission in 2013 for absconding from duty.
The Senate probed him and a warrant of arrest was issued against him and he was declared wanted by the police.
Maina went into hiding but resurfaced in 2017 and was reinstated, a development which caused an uproar across the country.
President Muhammadu Buhari eventually ordered his dismissal and a probe of the anomalies he was said to have committed.
He was arrested by the Department of State Services, DSS, in Abuja on September 30.
