Alex Enumah in Abuja
Justice Emeka Nwite of a Federal High Court, Abuja, yesterday adjourned till May 17, to rule on the bail application by detained Binance Executive, Tigran Gambaryan.
The judge fixed the date after taking arguments from parties for and against the bail of Gambaryan, who is the second defendant in the charge filed by the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC), against Binance Holdings Limited, a cryptocurrency firm and its executive over alleged money laundering to the tune of $35,400,000.
At Tuesday’s proceedings, Gambaryan’s lawyer, Mark Mordi (SAN) observed that the court has inherent jurisdiction to admit the defendant to bail, more so that, the offences for which he was charged are bailable offences.
Besides, he said, the defendant was presumed innocent until proven otherwise by the court and added that, his client is anxious to prove his innocence before the court.
According to Mordi, Gambaryan is not a flight risk and his international passport has been seized by the EFCC.
He added that: “The only reason the EFCC is holding the defendant is that, they want to use him as a leverage in making his employer to provide them with information”.
While accusing the anti-graft agency of not acting according to law, Mordi prayed the court to admit the defendant to bail adding that, the court has the power to put in place necessary safeguards to ensure that the defendant attends his trial.
Reacting, EFCC’s lawyer, Ekele Iheanacho, in a 14-paragraph affidavit, while objecting to the bail, said that the second defendant is both an American and Amanian citizen and had attempted processing a new passport on the ground that his initial passport was missing.
According to the lawyer, if EFCC had not intercepted the second defendant, he would have perfected the act, adding that the second defendant had no attachment to any community in Nigeria to ensure that he would be available for his trial if granted bail.
Mordi however, prayed the court to discountenance the submission of the prosecution to the effect that the defendant is an Amanian citizen by birth as there is nothing before the court to buttress that submission.
He said, the second defendant who had been in custody for 50 days is eager to go for trial to prove his innocence.
After hearing the submissions of counsel, Justice Nwite adjourned till May 17, 2024 for ruling.
Gambaryan, who took plea on behalf of the Company as its representative pleaded not guilty to the money laundering allegation preferred against him by the EFCC.
The anti-graft agency had charged Binance Holdings Limited, a cryptocurrency firm, and Gambaryan, the company’s head of financial crime compliance on a five-count charge bordering on money laundering.
In the charge filed on March 28 by the anti-graft agency, the company executives are being accused of money laundering to the tune of $35,400,000.
EFCC alleged in one of the counts that the defendants, between January 2023 and January 2024 in Abuja, carried out a specialised business of other financial institution without valid licence. The offence is said to be contrary to Section 57(1) and (2) of the Banks and Other Financial, Institutions Act, 2020 and punishable under Section 57(5) of the same Act.
