FG withdraws lawsuit against Binance employee Gambaryan — Nigeria — The Guardian Nigeria News — Nigeria and World News

The Federal High Court in Abuja, presided over by Justice Emeka Nwite, yesterday ordered the release of detained Binance Holdings Limited executive, Tigran Gambaryan, from the Kuje Correctional Centre.

The court gave the order after Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) counsel, RU Adagba, informed the court of the Federal Government’s decision to withdraw the charge against Gambaryan.

Adagba, who sustained the writ of Ekene Iheanacho, SAN, based the decision on Gambaryan’s deteriorating health and diplomatic intervention. Gambaryan, who was again not in court, was the second defendant in the charge preferred against the cryptocurrency platform (first defendant) by the EFCC, in a suit marked: “FHC/ABJ/CR/138/2024” .

On April 8, the EFCC charged Binance Holdings Ltd and Gambaryan before Justice Emeka Nwite of a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja. They were tried on a five-count charge that bordered on alleged tax evasion, currency speculation and money laundering worth $34,400,000.

The Binance representative’s request for bail was twice rejected by the court. Justice Nwite, on Friday, October 18, 2024 fixed Friday, October 25, 2024 for a report on Gambaryan’s state of health.

The development followed information from an officer of the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS), who was in court on the last adjourned date that Gambaryan’s absence from court was due to his illness.

The matter, however, was rescheduled for yesterday due to the urgency of the case. But after the resumption of the hearing, EFCC lawyer Adagba told Justice Nwite that the Federal Government’s decision to drop the charge against the arrested Binance employee due to his impaired hello

Adagba said the report received from the NCoS, through the Office of the National Security Adviser (NSA), indicated that Gambaryan’s health had deteriorated to the point where he could hardly walk without the aid of ‘a wheelchair.

Defense counsel further stated that the government had reviewed the case and had become aware that Gambaryan, a US citizen, was merely an entrepreneur of Binance Holdings Ltd, “whose status in the matter it has no impact.”

“I urged the honorable court to discharge the second accused accordingly, pursuant to section 108 (1), (2) (a) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA), 2015,” he prayed .

Binance’s lawyer, Olujoke Aliu, and Gambaryan’s lawyer, Mark Mordi, SAN, did not oppose the application. Mordi, however, told the court that since one of the grounds for withdrawing the case was that Gambaryan was only an employee of Binance, the court should issue an order for his client’s acquittal and not his dismissal. In his ruling, Justice Nwite granted Adagba’s application and subsequently adjourned the matter to November 22 and 25 for further trial.