Nadeem Anjarwalla, a Binance executive detained in Nigeria on charges of tax evasion and other offenses, has managed to escape from custody.
Sources familiar with the matter to PREMIUM TIMES that Anjarwalla, accompanied by his colleague Tigran Gambaryan, broke free from the Abuja guest house where they were being held, taking advantage of a visit to a nearby mosque for prayers during the ongoing Ramadan fast.
Anjarwalla, who holds both British and Kenyan citizenship, is believed to have fled the country via a Middle East airline. It remains unclear how he managed to board an international flight, as his British passport was still in the possession of Nigerian authorities.
Authorities are now working to determine Anjarwalla’s intended destination in order to apprehend him and return him to custody. An Immigration official has stated that the Binance executive left Nigeria using a Kenyan passport, but they are currently investigating how he obtained this document since he had no other travel documents besides his British passport at the time of his arrest. Sources claim that Anjarwalla and Gambaryan were being held in comfortable conditions and were granted certain privileges, such as access to telephones, which Anjarwalla is believed to have exploited in planning his escape.
The Head of Strategic Communication at the Office of the National Security Adviser, Zakari Mijinyawa, has been contacted for comment but has yet to respond. Anjarwalla, Binance’s Africa regional manager, and Gambaryan, a US citizen overseeing financial crime compliance, were detained upon their arrival in Nigeria on February 26, 2024. They were later charged with multiple offenses and remanded in custody for 14 days by a Magistrate Court in Abuja. The court also ordered Binance to provide the Nigerian government with data and information regarding Nigerians trading on its platform. Binance’s refusal to comply with the order resulted in an extension of the officials’ remand to prevent tampering with evidence. The case is scheduled to resume on April 4, 2024.
In addition, the Nigerian government has filed a four-count charge against Binance Holdings Limited, Anjarwalla, and Gambaryan in the Federal High Court in Abuja. The charges accuse them of providing services to subscribers on their trading platform without registering with the Federal Inland Revenue Service and failing to pay relevant taxes. The government alleges that these offenses amount to money laundering, terrorist financing, currency speculation, and market manipulation, which have contributed to the devaluation of the Nigerian economy and the weakening of the Naira against other currencies.
It is worth noting that Binance has recently been embroiled in legal troubles globally. The crypto exchange platform pleaded guilty in the United States to criminal money laundering charges and agreed to pay $4.3 billion in fines. Binance founder and CEO, Changpeng Zhao, known as CZ, pleaded guilty and agreed to step down. His criminal trial has been postponed to April 30 by a US court.
