By DAMILARE ADELEYE
A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has declined to grant bail to a Binance executive, Tigran Gambaryan, over his money laundering trial.
In his ruling on Friday, Justice Emeka Nwite refused to grant the bail application, saying he had resolved that the defendant would jump bail if granted.
Consequently, he held that the application “is hereby refused on that ground.”
Gambaryan, his company, Binance Holdings Limited and a fellow top executive currently on the run, Nadeem Anjarwalla, were charged by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, with money laundering and terrorism financing.
The anti-corruption agency arraigned him on Monday, April 8, on five counts bordering on alleged tax evasion, currency speculation and money laundering to the tune of $34,400,000 (Thirty-Four Million, Four Hundred Thousand United States Dollars).
Gambaryan, the second defendant, had claimed that he was not an agent, director, or representative of the Binance Company in Nigeria and should not be served on behalf of the first defendant.
But on Tuesday, April 9, the trial judge, Justice Nwite held that the second defendant, in his earlier affidavit, had stated that he was an American who visited Nigeria along with Nadeem Anjarwalla, a British-Kenyan citizen, solely for the purpose of attending a meeting with government officials as representatives of Binance.
He also mentioned in the document that he joined Binance in September 2021, which clearly shows his involvement with the first defendant within the jurisdiction, thereby striking out the objection to stop his arraignment.
“Count one of the charges reads: That you BINANCE HOLDINGS LTD (“A.K.A BINANCE”), TIGRAN GAMBARYAN AND NADEEM ANJARWALLA (now at large) between January, 2023 and January 2024 in Abuja within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court carried on specialized business of other financial institution without valid licence and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 57(1) and (2) of the Banks and other Financial Institutions Act, 2020 and punishable under section 57(5) of the same Act.”