The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, on Monday, has remanded Tigran Gambaryan, a representative of Binance Ltd at the Nigerian Correctional Service pending the determination of his bail application.
The court also overruled the argument of Tigran Gambaryan who claimed he was not an agent of Binance Ltd. Justice Emeka Nwite earlier, in the proceedings on Monday, ordered him to take his plea immediately, for himself and on behalf of Binance whom he represents in Nigeria, before commencement of trial.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had planned to arraign Binance Ltd, Tigran Gambaryan, and Nadeem Anjarwalla before the Federal High Court, Abuja in its suit marked FHC/ABJ/CR/138/2024, last week.
It has been previously reported that their planned arraignment last Thursday was stalled following a strong objection from Gambaryan’s legal team which insisted that he is not an agent of Binance.
They were scheduled by the court to take their plea in separate suits filed by the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and the EFCC.
The EFCC accused the defendants of money laundering and foreign exchange contravention to the tune of $35,400, 000. In the charge sheet seen by journalist, the EFCC alleged they concealed the origin of a cumulative sum of $35,400, 000 generated as revenue by BINANCE in Nigeria knowing that the funds constituted proceeds of unlawful activity
Some of the counts read, “That you, BINANCE HOLDINGS LTD (A.KA BINANCE”) between January 2022 and January 2024 in Abuja within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court not being an authorized dealer in Nigeria’s Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market used your virtual asset services platform to unlawfully negotiate foreign exchange rates in Nigeria and you thereby committed an offense contrary to and punishable under section 29(1) (C) of the Foreign Exchange (Monitoring And Miscellaneous Provisions) Act.
“That you BlNANCE HOLDINGS LTD (“A.K.A BINANCE”), TIGRAN GAMBARYAN, NADEEM ANJARWALLA (now at large), and other persons at large between January 2023 and January 2024 in Abuja within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court conspired amongst yourselves to conceal the origin of the proceeds of your unlawful activities and thereby committed an offense contrary to section 21 (a) and punishable under section 18(3) of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.”
When the court resumed last Thursday, Gambaryan’s lawyer, Mark Mordi SAN contended that his client could not take his plea because he refused to accept service on behalf of Binance as he is not authorized to do so.
According to him, the Administration of Criminal Justice Act mandates the anti-graft agency to ensure that the company (Binance) would have been served, then the company would appoint a representative in writing and it is only then can service and processes be served on Binance.
He added,
“His client is not an executive of Binance and does not reside in Nigeria to qualify as an agent. He explained, “The first defendant(Binance) has no physical footprint in Nigeria and does not have an agent in the country. “I urge my lord to discountenance the submission of the EFCC and adjourn so that they can affect service on Binance. But EFCC counsel, Ekene Iheanacho maintained that though there is no physical presence of Binance in Nigeria, Gambaryan is the cryptocurrency platform’s agent in the country.
“This defendant is the only agent of Binance in Nigeria and he qualifies to be an agent,” he added.
In his ruling, Justice Emeka Nwite held on Monday that Section 478 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, states that a person effecting service shall effect same to a chief agent of a company within jurisdiction among others.
He said all the prosecution needs to do is to establish that the person being served is an agent of Binance.
The judge observed that Gambaryan’s lawyers had deposed in an affidavit along with Nadeem, that they “visited Nigeria for the purpose of attending a meeting with Nigerian government officials on behalf of Binance.”
Nwite ruled, “Does the second defendant qualify as an agent of Binance? “From the above statement, the second defendant is the duly appointed representative of Binance. The second defendant is bound to receive summons on behalf of Binance.
“The service of the second defendant on behalf of the first defendant is proper. The court should proceed with the arraignment of the defendants.”
After the judge’s ruling, the registrar of the court read out the five-count charges to Gambaryan who pleaded not guilty to all of them, for himself and Binance.
EFCC’s lawyer, Iheanacho then asked the court to fix a date for the trial of Binance and its executives.
But Gambaryan’s lawyer, Mordi rose and asked the court to take his client’s bail application first, adding that in the alternative, his client should remain in the EFCC custody.
However, Iheanacho told the judge that the proper place for the custody of the defendant is the Nigerian Correctional Service After hearing the lawyers, the judge adjourned EFCC’s case to May 2, 2024, for trial and 18, April 2024 for bail application.
Binance and its executives are faced with two separate suits by the FIRS and EFCC; the former bordering on tax evasion while the latter charged them for money laundering and foreign exchange contravention.
Recall that the executives have also instituted a fundamental rights case against agencies of the Nigerian government, citing a violation of their constitutional right to liberty.
On February 28, Nigerian authorities detained two senior Binance executives: Nadeem Anjarwalla, a 37-year-old British-Kenyan who serves as the regional manager for Africa, and Tigran Gambaryan, a 39-year-old American who is the head of financial crime compliance at Binance.
Following the federal government’s ban on cryptocurrency channels as part of a campaign against currency speculation, the Binance executives visited Nigeria for a meeting. The Naira has experienced a significant devaluation of its currency, with the naira losing 70% of its value against the dollar since the foreign exchange reforms were implemented last year, a situation worsened by a shortage of dollars locally.
The NSA later confirmed that Nadeem had fled the country.
In the same vein, an Ikeja High Court has directed Godwin Emefiele, that the former CBN governor, to be remanded in the Economic Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) custody for abuse of office charges.EFCC arraigned Emefiele and Henry Omole, his co-defendant, on Monday before Rahmon Oshodi, a judge at the Ikeja High Court. Both defendants entered a not-guilty plea to the twenty-six charges levied against them. The charge was marked ID/23787c/2024 and dated April 3, 2024.
Labo-Lawal, the defendant’s attorney, requested that the court permit Emefiele to be released on his recognizance and to maintain the bail conditions previously set by the Abuja court.
Furthermore, he appealed to the court to continue the bail for the second defendant that Justice Sule-Hamzat had initially granted.
Rotimi Oyedepo (SAN), the prosecution counsel, did not contest the bail applications. However, after hearing from both lawyers, Justice Oshodi ordered that Emefiele be held in EFCC custody and the second defendant in the Ikoyi Correctional Centre, postponing the case until April 11 to decide on the bail and begin the trial.
Emefiele
Earlier today, the embattled former Central Bank of Nigeria Governor, Godwin Emefiele, was arraigned at the Ikeja State High Court in Lagos over alleged abuse of office and allocation of billions of dollars.
Emefiele, alongside his co-defendant, one Henry Isioma Omole, was charged on fresh 26 counts before Justice Rahman Oshodi. In the charge marked ID/23787c/2024 and dated April 3, 2024, the EFCC alleged that Emefiele abused his office between 2022 and 2023 in Lagos.
The commission alleged that the former CBN governor “directed to be done in abuse of the authority of your office, as the Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria, an arbitrary act, to wit: allocating foreign exchange in the aggregate sum of $2,136,391,737.33 without bids, which act is prejudicial to the rights of Nigerians.”
