The Federal High Court in Abuja has thrown out a rights enforcement suit brought by Tigran Gambaryan, the former Binance executive in charge of financial crime compliance, after concluding that his case had no basis in law and amounted to an abuse of judicial process.
Justice Mohammed Umar delivered the ruling, explaining that the National Security Adviser and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission acted within their legal mandate while investigating allegations of foreign exchange misconduct and money laundering linked to Binance Holdings Ltd. The judge stressed that the court could not halt or weaken the investigative duties of security agencies, and he noted that Gambaryan offered no evidence that he was immune from prosecution in Nigeria.
Gambaryan and a colleague, Nadeem Anjarwalla, had been detained at the office of the NSA after arriving in Nigeria on February 26, 2024, for a meeting with government officials. The former Binance official maintained through his lawyer, Tonye Krukrubo, SAN, that he entered the country solely to honour an official invitation issued by the NSA and EFCC. He insisted that he was not a board member of Binance and claimed he became the target of unlawful detention once he complied with the invitation.
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His suit accused the Nigerian authorities of holding him in custody as a bargaining tool in ongoing demands made of the cryptocurrency company. He asked the court to declare that his detention, both before and after the expiration of the initial remand order, caused significant distress to him and his family.
The NSA and EFCC dismissed the allegations, filing a counter affidavit that pointed to ongoing criminal proceedings before Justice Emeka Nwite, where Binance and its representatives are facing charges of forex infractions and money laundering. Their counsel, Olanrewaju Adeola, maintained that the detention periods were backed by a valid remand order.
Justice Umar agreed with the agencies, noting that the criminal trial remains active, that Gambaryan had already been arraigned, and that a separate court had refused him bail after assessing him as a flight risk. He concluded that fundamental rights are not limitless, especially when national security and criminal investigations are involved, and accordingly struck out the suit.