BREAKING: Court Remands Binance Man In Kuje Prison

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, prior to commencement of trial

Recall that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had planned arraigning Binance Ltd, Tigran Gambaryan and Nadeem Anjarwalla before the Federal High Court, Abuja in its suit marked FHC/ABJ/CR/138/2024, last week.

GWG.ng 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.

As contained in the charge sheet, 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 offence 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 offence contrary to section 21 (a) and punishable under section 18(3) of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.”

In his ruling on Monday, Justice Emeka Nwite held 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.”

“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 a proper service. The court should proceed with the arraignment of the defendants,” Nwite ruled.

GWG.ng reports that after the judge’s ruling, the registrar of the court read out the five-count  charges to Gambaryan who pleaded not guilty to all them, for himself and for 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 up and asked the court to take his client’s bail application first, adding that in the alternative, his client should remain at 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.

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