Jonathan Nwokpor
Tigran Gambaryan, an official of Binance Holdings Limited, is now jailed. The Economic and Financial Crime Commission, or EFCC, has instructed Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court Abuja to reject Gambaryan’s bail request.
Gambaryan will flee if bail is granted, according to the anti-graft agency.
Emeka Iheanacho, the EFCC’s prosecutor, revealed on Tuesday that Nadeem Anjarwalla, a co-defendant, had fled from the National Security Adviser’s custody and was presently in Kenya.
He emphasised that releasing Gambaryan on bail would be dangerous.
Iheanacho said the court that after the EFCC had confiscated Gambaryan’s passport, the anti-graft agency had discovered an alleged scheme to get a new passport in order to let him flee from Nigeria.
“This defendant attempted to procure another travelling document even when he knew his passport was in the state’s custody. He pretended as if the said passport was stolen.
“This court will take a grave risk to grant the defendant bail. This is also because he has no attachment to any community in Nigeria.
“The experience we have had with the man who escaped to Kenya while his United Kingdom passport is in Nigeria will certainly repeat itself if this defendant is granted bail.
“The 1st defendant (Binance) is operating virtually. The only thing we have to hold on to is this defendant. So, we pray, My Lord, to refuse bail to the defendant,” he said.
While advancing Gambaryan’s bail request, his attorney, Mark Mordi (SAN), said that the EFCC was using his client as leverage to get information from his employer and characterised his ongoing arrest as “purely a state-sanctioned hostage taking.”
Gambaryan, his fugitive colleague Anjarwalla, and Binance Holdings Limited are all being prosecuted by the EFCC on allegations of money laundering.
The anti-graft agency charged them with hiding the source of the $35,400,000 that Binance made in revenue in Nigeria, even though they were aware that the money was the profits of illegal activities.
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