Nigerian Prison Fails to Bring Binance Exec to Court

FIRS has accused the Nigerian prison of failing to bring Binance Exec Tigran Gambaryan to court in Abuja.

The Nigerian Correctional Service has been accused by the Nigerian Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) of neglecting to appear in the Federal High Court in Abuja to defend Binance executive Tigran Gambaryan in his tax evasion case.

The detained Binance executive, Tigran Gambaryan, allegedly neglected to appear in court on May 22 for arraignment on allegations of tax evasion filed by the Federal Inland Revenue Service, as reported by local media.

Prosecutor Moses Idehu, in court on Wednesday, expressed ambiguity regarding the whereabouts of the detained executive, who was anticipated to be released from detention. He disclosed that establishing communication with the correctional center officials had proven fruitless.

Idehu requested a brief pause in the proceedings, wanting to postpone the matter until it is resolved. Subsequently, on June 14, Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court in Abuja rescheduled the arraignment of Gambaryan.

Binance’s attorney, T.J. Krukrubo, SAN, objected to the prosecution’s decision not to present his client.

In the interim, Gambaryan was represented by Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Chukwuka Ikwuazo, who requested that the judge instruct FIRS to expunge co-defendant Nadeem Anjarwalla’s name from the amended charges, given that he has been declared “at large.”

With the consent of the FIRS attorney, the requisite actions were to be taken to erase Nadeem Anjarwalla’s name from the charging document.

April 2024 saw the transfer of Tigran Gambaryan to the Kuje Correctional Centre Abuja after his acquittal on money laundering charges initiated by the Economic and Financial Crime Commission.

The denial of his parole application has resulted in his continued detention. The accusations pertain to the concealment of the origin of $35,400,000 worth of funds generated by Binance in Nigeria.

The FIRS had previously levied tax evasion allegations against Binance and its executives, including Tigran Gambaryan and Nadeem Anjarwalla, in March 2024.

Failure to register with the FIRS, non-payment of value-added tax, failure to pay company income tax, and facilitation of tax evasion were among the charges.

Due to the Nigerian government’s allegations that the cryptocurrency exchange manipulated foreign exchange (FX) rates, cryptocurrency trading platforms are now subject to stricter regulation.

On February 28, Nigerian authorities apprehended Anjarwalla, a 37-year-old regional manager for Africa based in Kenya, and Gambaryan, a 39-year-old American overseeing financial crime compliance.