By Anthony Ochela, Abuja
Federal High Court in Abuja presided over by Justice Emeka Nwite yesterday ordered the release of the detained Binance Holdings executive, Tigran Gambaryan, from Kuje Correctional Centre.
The court gave the order after counsel for the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, R.U Adagba, informed the court of the decision of the federal government to withdraw the charge against Gambaryan.
Adagba, who held the brief of Ekene Iheanacho, SAN, premised the decision on his deteriorating health and diplomatic intervention.
Gambaryan, who was 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.”
The EFCC had, on April 8, arraigned Binance Holdings Ltd and Gambaryan before Justice Nwite.
They were arraigned on a five-count charge bordering on alleged tax evasion, currency speculation and money laundering to the tune of $34,400,000.
The Binance representative’s bail application was rejected twice by the court.
Justice Nwite had on Friday, October 18 fixed Friday, October 25 for a report on the health status of Gambaryan.
The development followed an information from an officer of the Nigerian Correctional Service, NCoS, who was in court on the last adjourned date that Gambaryan’s absence in court was due to his ill-health.
The matter was however rescheduled for yesterday due to the urgency of the case.
Upon the resumed hearing, EFCC’s counsel told Justice Nwite of the federal government’s decision to withdraw the charge against the detained employee of Binance because of his deteriorating health.
Adagba recalled that the case could not go on at the last adjourned date as a result of his health condition.
Adagba said the report they received from NCoS, through the Office of the National Security Adviser, NSA, indicated that Gambaryan’s health had deteriorated to the extent that he hardly walked without the assistance of a wheelchair.
Adagba said besides his ill-health, he needs to undergo surgery and the procedure and recovery would take some time that may impact on the pace of the trial.
The defence counsel stated that government had reviewed the case and had taken cognisance that Gambaryan, a U. S citizen, was a mere employer of Binance Holdings Ltd, “whose status in the matter has no impact.”
The lawyer told the court that the prosecution had taken into consideration some critical diplomatic and international meetings by the federal government, hence the need to discontinue the charge against the second defendant.
“I urge the honourable court to discharge the second defendant accordingly in line with Section 108(1), (2)(a) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, ACJA, 2015,” she prayed.
Lawyer to Binance, Olujoke Aliu, and his counsel, Mark Mordi, SAN, did not oppose the application.
Mordi, however, told the court that since one of the reasons for the withdrawal of the case was that Gambaryan was just an employee of Binance, he urged the court to make an order for his client’s acquittal and not a discharge.
Delivering his ruling, Justice Nwite granted Adagba’s application and subsequently adjourned the matter until November 22 and 25 for continuation of trial.
