The trial of a Binance executive detained in Nigeria, Tigran Gambaryan, at the Federal High Court in Abuja took a dramatic turn following the defendant’s collapse in court yesterday.
At the resumed trial on Thursday, the defendant failed to enter the dock when he was called upon by the court registrar for continuation of trial as he remained seated in the back seat.
Following the failure of the defendant to enter the dock, the trial judge, Justice Emeka Nwite, asked after him.
One of the lawyers in the defence team, who sat beside Gambaryan, assisted him by the side while holding his hand towards the dock but as they walked slowly to the dock, Gambaryan slumped and the lawyer helped him to sit in the front row seat.
Lawyer to the defendant, Mark Mordi, however, told the court that his client has been indisposed and a written application letter had been filed to notify the court of this.
Read Also: Nigerian Govt Rubbishes Binance CEO’s Bribery Allegation
At the last sitting, Justice Nwite had dismissed Gambaryan’s bail application on the ground that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had been able to establish that he posed a flight risk in the same manner as Nadeem Anjarwalla.
Gambaryan, Anjarwalla, and Binance Holdings Limited are facing money laundering and terrorism financing charges, brought against them by the EFCC.
Amid the bribing allegations, the Federal Government of Nigeria has vowed to pursue the criminal case against the crypto platform, Binance and its officials, to a logical end.
Senior officials of President Bola Tinubu’s administration have refuted bribery allegations made by Binance CEO Richard Teng in a blog post published by the New York Times. Teng had accused certain individuals of asking for a $150 million bribe in cryptocurrency to resolve a criminal charge against the company. The officials have dismissed the allegations as baseless and untrue.
The NYT yesterday reported that on a trip to Nigeria in January, Tigran Gambaryan, a compliance officer with the exchange, received an unsettling message: The company had 48 hours to make a payment of roughly $150m in crypto.
Gambaryan, a former United States law enforcement agent, understood the message as a request for a bribe from someone in the Nigerian government.