Prosecutors in Nigeria will move forward with a case brought by the country’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) against Tigran Gambaryan, a Binance executive detained since February.
A spokesperson for the family told Cointelegraph that Gambaryan’s legal team began and ended its cross-examination of an EFCC witness on July 2. The government agency has filed money laundering charges against Gambaryan and Binance executive Nadeem Anjarwalla, who escaped custody in March and reportedly fled to Kenya.
Nigeria officials plan to resume Gambaryan’s trial on July 5. However, his family is reporting that his health has been deteriorating in the roughly 128 days since authorities detained him and Anjarwalla. According to the spokesperson, Gambaryan has had double pneumonia and malaria and reported aches and pains in his foot and back.
US government response?
In a statement to Cointelegraph, Gambaryan’s wife, Yuki, said she was not in contact with anyone from the Nigerian government but had been speaking with officials in the U.S. State Department and U.S. Embassy in Abuja. She reported regular calls with Binance staff and the lawyers representing her husband in the EFCC case.
“I thought the U.S. Government response was quite slow at first, especially considering that Tigran used to work for the U.S. Government,” said Yuki. “However, I believe they have noticeably increased their efforts and engagement recently [...] In my eyes, it is evident any issues between Binance and the Nigerian authorities can and should be resolved without Tigran being caught in the middle.”
Nigeria authorities initially charged Gambaryan and Anjarwalla with tax evasion and money laundering charges in February after the pair traveled to the country as representatives of Binance. Anjarwalla escaped to Kenya in March and reportedly faces extradition back to Nigeria. In June, Nigeria’s Federal Inland Revenue Service dropped the tax evasion charges, but the money laundering case was ongoing at the time of publication.
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Many U.S. officials and people interested in the case have criticized Nigerian authorities for holding two executives who willingly traveled to the country accountable for the company’s alleged actions. On June 20, U.S. Representatives French Hill and Chrissy Houlahan met Gambaryan in Kuje Prison in Nigeria, calling for authorities to drop the charges and release him immediately on humanitarian grounds.
Yuki Gambaryan launched a petition to bring her husband back to the U.S., which had 4,879 signatures at the time of publication — roughly one hundred shy of its goal of 5,000. The results of the petition will presumably be forwarded to the U.S. State Department, President Joe Biden, the EFFCC, and the Nigerian government.
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