Nigerian court drops Binance Anjarwalla’s case following his custody escape Nigerian court drops Binance Anjarwalla’s case following his custody escape
Tigran Gambaryan is still held at the Kuje Prison by the Nigerian authorities.
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Updated: Jun. 19, 2024 at 9:38 pm UTC
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A federal high court in Nigeria has dismissed a human rights lawsuit filed by Binance executive Nadeem Anjarwalla against the country’s National Security Adviser and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
On June 19, Justice Inyang Ekwo dismissed the case due to Anjarwalla’s lack of legal representation. Legal experts stated that this decision was expected, considering Anjarwalla fled the Nigerian authority’s custody in March and his lawyer, Tonye Krukrubo, subsequently withdrew from the case.
Anjarwalla, a dual British and Kenyan citizen, was one of the Binance executives the Nigerian government detained in February due to the regulatory issues associated with the exchange’s operations.
However, he escaped custody in March using a Kenyan passport, and his location remains unknown.
Gambaryan remains detained
Tigran Gambaryan, the other Binance executive, remains under Nigerian custody and is entangled in several legal battles against the authorities.
He is currently held at Kuje Prison and has a pending human rights enforcement application case against the Nigerian government. The case will be heard on July 9.
He also faces money laundering charges and has pleaded not guilty to the charges. The court denied him bail, considering him a flight risk.
Notably, Nigeria’s Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) recently dropped the charges against him, choosing to focus on the exchange instead.
Meanwhile, there are suggestions that the US government might intervene in Gambaryan’s continued detention. Recently, FBI Director Christopher Wray met with Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu, further fuelling speculations about a diplomatic intervention.
Nonetheless, Binance has maintained that Gambaryan is not a major decision-maker at the firm and does not need to be held before it resolves its issues with the Nigerian government.
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