*Firm’s Executive a Flight Risk, EFCC Tells Court

THE Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of cryptocurrency exchange, Binance, Richard Teng, has disclosed that the company was working very closely with Nigerian authorities following the detention of its Head of Financial Crime Compliance, Tigran Gambaryan.

A Federal High Court in Abuja has adjourned the case against Gambaryan and another official, Nadeem Anjarwalla, who were accused of laundering over $35million by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), until May 2, this year.

But Teng, while speaking about Gambaryan’s case at a crypto conference in Dubai, stated: “What I can say is we are working very closely with the Nigerian authorities to try to resolve the matter.”

Anjarwalla, a British-Kenyan, who is Binance Regional Manager for Africa, escaped from lawful detention and fled Nigeria last month.

Anjarwalla and Gambaryan flew to Nigeria following its decision to ban several cryptocurrency trading websites and were detained on arrival on February 26 by the office of the National Security Adviser (NSA).

In addition to the case brought by the anti-graft agency, the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has also charged Binance and the executives with tax evasion.

“This was a one-off. It’s never happened to us before,” Binance’s Head of Regional Markets, Vishal Sacheendran told Reuters on the sidelines of the Dubai conference when asked about the detentions.

But Sacheendran declined to comment on the charges against the company.

Meanwhile, the EFCC has asked the Federal High Court in Abuja to reject Gambaryan’s bail request.

The court ordered his remand in prison after he pleaded not guilty to the charges on 8 April.

   At the resumed hearing of Gambaryan’s bail application on Thursday, April 18, his lawyer, Mark Mordi (SAN), said the EFCC was opposed to his bail request on the grounds that he constitutes a “flight risk.”

He stated: “The prosecution said we are a flight risk and should not be granted bail, because the defendant’s colleague escaped from custody.

“There is nothing incriminating my client in the proof of evidence that is attached to the charge.”

In a heated argument between Mordi and EFCC’s lawyer, Ekele Iheanacho, the defence lawyer accused the agency of deliberately keeping Gambaryan in prison, pending the hearing of the bail request.

He recalled that the EFCC was served with his client’s motion for bail on 4 April, but only responded to the application on April 15, outside of the statutory seven days.

“On April 4, the prosecution (EFCC) was served with my client’s bail application. But the lawyer chose to file his reply on 15 and serve the process on us in 16 April.

“This is wrong; this is an abuse of prosecutorial powers. The normal time for response is a week. Now, he is telling us to come back (next) Monday,” Mordi said while opposing Iheanacho’s application for an adjournment.

However, the EFCC Counsel said the prosecution was within time in filing its response to Gambaryan’s bail application, noting that the anti-graft agency could not have responded to the bail application when Gambaryan was “challenging the court’s jurisdiction.”

Iheanacho urged the court for an adjournment to enable him respond to fresh issues that were raised by the defence lawyer in the bail application documents

After listening to the lawyers, the Judge adjourned the suit until 22 April for the hearing of the bail application.

  Recall that on 28 March, the EFCC charged Gambaryan and Anjarwalla, but only Gambaryan was available for arraignment before the trial Judge on 8 April.

Gambaryan pleaded not guilty to the five counts by the EFCC when read to him in open court on Monday, April 15, while the Judge recorded a plea of not-guilty for Binance, based on Iheanacho’s request.

In the five counts, EFCC accused the three defendants of committing money laundering offences, involving $35.4 million.

Meanwhile, a sister case involving the Binance executives is expected to come up before Justice Nwite on Friday, April 19.

The suit, being prosecuted by FIRS, borders on tax evasion allegedly perpetrated by Binance.