EFCC to arraign Binance executives for ‘money laundering’ on Thursday

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) will, on Thursday, charge Binance, Tigran Gambaryan and Nadeem Anjarwalla, the company’s senior executives, on five counts of money laundering.

Gambaryan is Binance’s head of financial crime compliance, and Anjarwalla is the company’s regional manager for Africa.

According to NAN, on Tuesday, they will be charged before Justice Emeka Nwite of the federal high court Abuja.

In the charge dated and filed on March 28 by the anti-graft agency, the trio is being accused of money laundering to the tune of $35,400,000.

In the first count, the defendants were charged with operating a specialised business of another financial institution in Abuja without a valid license between January 2023 and January 2024.

The offence is alleged to violate Sections 57(1) and (2) of the Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act, 2020, and is punishable under Section 57(5) of the same Act.

Anjarwalla is expected to be arraigned in absentia, according to NAN, following his escape from custody.

On March 25, Anjarwalla escaped Nigeria with a smuggled passport.

Meanwhile, on March 18, Emeka Nwite, a federal high court presiding judge, ordered Binance to provide the EFCC with the comprehensive data or information of all persons from Nigeria trading on its platform.

The judge granted the interim order after ruling on the ex-parte motion moved by Ekele Iheanacho, EFCC’s lawyer.

The interim order was granted to enable the anti-graft agency to unravel the alleged money laundering and terrorism financing on the Binance platform.

EFCC said the information afforded to its team of investigators by Binance showed that the total trading volume from Nigeria in 2023 alone stood at $21.6 billion.

Similarly, the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), on March 28, said it would charge Binance, Gambaryan and Anjarwalla, on allegations bordering on tax evasion on April 4.

In the charge dated and filed March 22 by FIRS, the defendants were alleged to have committed the offence on or about February 1.

The lawsuit comes a month after Anjarwalla and Gambaryan were detained by the Nigerian authorities.

Anjarwalla and Gambaryan had flown into Nigeria but had their passports seized by ONSA.

On March 12, Anjarwalla was transferred to a local hospital after he fell ill while in detention in Nigeria.

In response to his treatment by the Nigerian authorities, Gambaryan sued Nuhu Ribadu, the national security adviser (NSA) and the Economic Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), alleging violation of his fundamental rights.