‘Follow FIRS example’ — wife of detained Binance executive asks EFCC to drop charges

Yuki Gambaryan, wife of Tigran, the detained Binance executive in Nigeria, has asked the Economic and Financial Crimes (EFCC) to drop the charges against her husband.

On June 14, the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) dropped its tax charges against the Binance’s head of financial crime compliance.

In April, the anti-graft body had arraigned Binance Holdings Limited, a cryptocurrency firm, and Gambaryan, over allegations bordering on money laundering.

The company and its executive were arraigned on a five-count charge before Emeka Nwite, a judge at the federal high court in Abuja, on April 8.

In a statement on Tuesday, Yuki asked the EFCC to follow the steps of FIRS.

She said her husband and his family are finding it more difficult to deal with his continued detention. 

“He is suffering immensely under the strain of this injustice. I respectfully urge the EFCC to follow the example set by their colleagues at the FIRS (tax authority) and drop the charges against Tigran,” she said.

“As I have stated many times before and as the evidence in court is showing, Tigran has never been a decision-maker at Binance, and there is no justification for his continued detention. 

“It is time for the Nigerian authorities to do the right thing and release my innocent husband. This situation has gone too far.”

According to the statement, Gambaryan’s health continues to “deteriorate in detention and he complained of numbness in his foot as well as back pain”.

“He has had double pneumonia and malaria whilst in prison,” Yuki said. 

In the statement, Yuki said the federal high court in Abuja ordered Kuje correctional facility to release the medical records of Gambaryan — covering his visit to the hospital on June 3 — to his lawyers.

On Tuesday, the cross-examination of a witness from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) — the first witness presented by the EFCC in the ongoing trial of Binance and Gambaryan — was completed.

The trial has been adjourned to July 5.