- The Nigerian government has traced runaway Binance executive Nadeem Anjarwalla to Kenya.
- Verified sources from Nigeria confirmed that Anjarwalla’s hideout has been uncovered and that plans are being put in place with international agencies for his extradition.
Nigerian authorities have tracked runaway Binance executive Nadeem Anjarwalla to his hideout in Kenya. Anjarwalla who is Binance’s regional manager for Africa escaped detention in Nigeria under mysterious circumstances on March 22nd after leveraging a momentary permission to observe Ramadan prayers in a nearby mosque. Until recently, Anjarwalla’s whereabouts have been uncertain amidst some heated money-laundering and tax evasion charges against him, his colleague Tigran Gambaryan, and Binance.
Anjarwalla Tracked to Kenya
Following Anjarwalla’s successful uncovering, the Nigerian EFCC (Economic and Financial Crimes Commission) has initiated a collaborative effort with the Nigerian Police, the International Criminal Police, and the Kenyan Police to facilitate his speedy extradition, revealed Punch Newspaper, a local news outlet.
The 38-year-old was held in Nigeria’s EFCC detention facility together with his colleague and Binance’s Head of Financial Compliance Tigran Gambaryan after being charged with several counts of financial crimes. The duo was supposed to stand together before a Federal High Court in Abuja, Nigeria two weeks after the shocking escape which left a big puzzle in the legal process.
According to Punch, an intimate source reported that “Mr Anjarwalla’s extradition process has begun.”
“The FG (Federal Government) is working as did with INTERPOL to extradite the fugitive to Nigeria. He’s a fugitive that escaped from lawful custody, and his other partner is still in custody and would be arraigned on Thursday alongside their company, Binance,” a source had noted,” said the source.
On the other hand, his colleague Gambaryan was arraigned before a Nigerian Federal High Court where he pled not guilty to the 5-count charge laid against them by the Nigerian EFCC and FIRS (Federal Inland Revenue Service). The charge was related to tax evasion, currency speculation, and money laundering of up to $35 million.
Gambaryan has since been remanded in Nigeria’s Kuje Correctional Facility against his lawyer Mark Mordi’s plea. Mordi, who had asked the judge to dismiss the charges against his client seeing he didn’t have substantial decision-making power in Binance, also asked that his client be granted bail, considering he had spent “over 40 days” in unlawful detention.
However, the judge, Justice Nwite, aligned more with the prosecution’s argument that the second defendant (Gambaryan) was lawfully detained and that his detention in a correctional center instead of the EFCC facility was in keeping with Nigeria’s law.
Justice Nwite later fixed April 18 for the hearing of bail applications and May 5 for the trial. However, the recent discovery of Anjarwalla’s hideout in Kenya, and the plans for his extradition, might add some twists to the ongoing legal battle with possibilities of new charges for evasion of justice.
“It is true that the FG has commenced the process of extraditing Binance’ Anjarwalla to bring him back to Nigeria to answer to his money laundering case in court, among others. The arraignment of Binance and Gambaryan in court on Thursday would also aid Anjarwalla’s extradition.” said another intimate Nigerian source.
The detained Binance executives’ wives had publicly issued statements on the long detention. A few days before Anjarwalla’s escape, his wife Elahe, said she was “completely heartbroken” that her husband wouldn’t be home in time for their son’s first birthday, while pleasing with Nigerian authorities to “please allow him and Tigran to return home.”
Gambaryan’s wife Yuki also asked the Nigerian authorities to “Please let him come home to continue this good work.” “The longer that our husbands are away from our families, the harder it is becoming for us to go about our daily lives,” she pleaded.