By Ikechukwu Nnochiri
ABUJA– The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, on Thursday, dismissed as lacking in merit, a suit that former Binance Head of Financial Crime Compliance, Tigran Gambaryan, filed against the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, alleging that he was unlawfully detained.
Gambrayan, who was initially charged with money laundering, also cited the National Security Adviser, NSA, as a Respondent in his suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/356/2024.
While dismissing the case, the court, in the judgement that was delivered by Justice Mohammed Umar, held that the Applicant failed to establish that his rights were violated.
Justice Umar held that Applicant could not hide under the guise of enforcing his fundamental rights to persuade the court to interfere with powers of Nigerian authorities to investigate and persecute suspected foreign exchange violations, as well as alleged case of money laundering involving the firm he worked for.
Besides, he noted that criminal charges the federal government preferred against the crypto currency trading platform, Binance Holdings Limited, are still pending in court.
The court stressed that affidavit evidence before it showed that Gambrayan was duly arraigned before trial Justice Emeka Nwite and subsequently remanded at a correctional center.
It further noted that the Applicant’s bail request was refused after the trial court held that he posed a flight risk.
Justice Umar held that from the affidavit evidence, it was clear that the office of the NSA acted on the strength of intelligence reports that bordered on alleged unlawful transactions by Binance and its officials.
He held that fundamental rights are not absolute as they may be curtailed under certain situations and for national interest.
The court maintained that in the instant case, both the EFCC and the NSA acted within their statutory mandates.
“No court has the power to stop the investigative powers of the police or EFCC,” Justice Umar held, adding that the Applicant failed to adduce any evidence to establish that he enjoyed immunity from prosecution in Nigeria or under the Nigerian law.
He further held that the suit constituted an abuse of the judicial process and deserved to be dismissed.
Gambaryan had approached the court, insisting that his rights were violated by Nigerian agencies.
Aside from praying the court to order both the EFCC and the NSA to issue a public apology to him for subjecting him to what he insisted was an unlawful detention, he equally prayed for monetary compensation.
Gambaryan was arrested and detained alongside his colleague, Nadeem Anjarwalla, over alleged involvement of their firm in money laundering and terrorism financing.
Even though their international passports were seized, however, Anjarwalla, who is the Africa Regional Manager of Binance, escaped from custody and fled to Kenya.
Despite the development, both the EFCC and the Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS, slammed separate criminal charges against the duo and the company.
However, on October 23, 2024, the charge against them was withdrawn, leaving only the company as the defendant.
Binance, which is a crypto currency exchange platform that lists more than 350 digital currencies, serves as alternative form of payment, created, using encryption algorithms.
The court had ordered the firm to furnish the EFCC with the comprehensive information of all persons from Nigeria trading on its platform, as well as all its transaction history for a period of six months.
The order came after the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Mr. Olayemi Cardoso, on February 27, disclosed that about $26billion passed through Binance from unidentified sources.
FG said it was investigating the possibility that the platform was used for money laundering and terrorism financing.
However, following a failed negotiation, the crypto firm, on March 8, discontinued all naira transactions on its exchange platform, with reports indicating that the government demanded $10bn from the company as its retribution for profiting from “its illegal transactions” in Nigeria.
Some of the offences allegedly committed by the firm were said to be punishable under sections 8 and 29 of the VAT Act of 1993, as amended, section 40 of the FIRS Establishment Act, 2007, as amended, as well as under the provisions of section 94 of the Companies Income Tax Act, as amended.
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