The Federal Government has dropped all charges against an executive at Binance Holdings, Tigran Gambaryan, who was being tried for money laundering.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) lawyer announced the withdrawal of the charges at the Federal High Court in Abuja Wednesday morning.
The withdrawal of the charges was coming two days to the October 25 October date set for the trial judge in the open court.
last Friday, appeared to have been intentionally held to avoid public attention as much as possible.
The EFCC lawyer said Mr Gambaryan, a United States citizen, was merely an employee of Binance, whose activities he was being prosecuted for.
Gambarya’s lawyer, Mark Mordi, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) agreed with the prosecution, saying his client was not involved in the company’s broader financial decisions.
Binance, its U.S. head of financial crime compliance, Gambaryan, and the exchange British-Kenyan regional manager for Africa, Nadeem Anjarwalla, were facing money laundering charges to the tune of $35 million brought against them by the EFCC
Gambaryan and Anjarwalla were both initially detained in the custody of the office of the National Security Adviser.
Anjarwalla, however, fled lawful custody on March 22, 2024, while his counterpart, Gambaryan, was arraigned in April.
The court ordered his remand to Kuje Correctional Facility after he was arraigned.
According to PREMIUM TIMES, Wednesday’s hearing was sequel to the behind-the-scenes diplomatic lobbying that had been taking place between Nigerian and the US government figures for months for the release of Mr Gambaryan, who has been denied bail on two occasions because the judge considered him to be a flight risk.
Weeks to Wednesday’s hearing have been marked by campaigns by some US lawmakers for the release of Mr Gambaryan, including writing relevant Nigerian and American authorities to intervene.
Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court Abuja, rejected his second bail application on 11 October, ruling that Mr. Gambaryan’s grounds of ill health were not sufficient to release him from detention.
When the case came up on October 18 for continuation for the trial of Mr. Gambaryan, he was nowhere to be seen leading to the adjournment of the case to October 25, which eventually would not hold following the withdrawal of charges against the American.
