The Thursday’s sitting was scheduled for the hearing of the defendant’s no-case submission, following the close of the prosecution’s case with nine witnesses earlier on Wednesday.

A former Chairman of the defunct Pension Reformed Taskforce Team, Abdulrasheed Maina, on Thursday, collapsed in the dock during the resumed hearing in his N2bn money laundering trial at the Federal High Court in Abuja.

The Thursday’s sitting was scheduled for the hearing of the defendant’s no-case submission, following the close of the prosecution’s case with nine witnesses earlier on Wednesday.

The defence lawyer, Anayo Adibe, was briefing the judge, Justice Okon Abang, that his team had yet to receive the records of proceedings requested from the court’s registry when a loud thud of Maina’s fall drew attention to the dock.

Prison officials immediately rushed to him to attend to him. Justice Abang said the court would rise for about five minutes, Punch reports.