Court To Hear Binance Executive’s Bail Application Tuesday

Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court, Abuja, has adjourned till Tuesday to hear the bail application of the detained Binance executive, Tigran Gambaryan.

Gambaryan, his company, Binance Holdings Limited, and Nadeem Anjarwalla, a colleague currently on the run, were accused by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission of having allegedly committed an offence contrary to Section 21 (a) and punishable under Section 18(3) of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022, among others.

All three defendants in the case were said to have conspired amongst themselves to conceal the origin of the financial proceeds of their alleged unlawful activities in Nigeria to the tune of $35,400, 000.

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After the matter was mentioned at the resumed hearing, EFCC counsel, Ekele Iheanacho, made an oral application where he sought more time to respond to a further affidavit served on him in court by Gambaryan’s lawyer, Mark Mordi, (SAN).

Mordi however contested Iheanacho’s request for more time maintaining that they could both immediately respond to the application so that the bail plea could be heard.

”My client has been in detention. Honestly, what is fair is fair.

“The man’s liberty is at stake, I won’t mind my lord, if you can stand down the matter so we can go through the processes, reply, and then we proceed,” Mordi said.

Justice Nwite, however, adjourned the matter in the interest of justice.

He said counsel are entitled to respond to each others’ processes within the constitutionally stipulated time frame.

Justice Nwite had ordered the remand of Gambaryan in Kuje Correctional Centre after he pleaded not guilty to the money laundering charges preferred against him by the EFCC.

The Nigerian government is working on ways to rearrest Anjarwalla and bring him back to the country to be arraigned for his offence pending before the EFCC and the Federal Inland Revenue Service.