Following an adjournment by a Federal High Court in Abuja, the trial for the money laundering case against Binance Holdings Limited’s executives, Tigran Gambaryan and Nadeem Anjarwalla, is now set to continue on May 17.
During today’s court session, the defendant’s counsel, Tony Krukrubo, mentioned that he had not yet received the additional proof of evidence.
It was revealed that efforts to serve Gambaryan the documents in Kuje prison on April 30 were unsuccessful as he adamantly refused to accept the service, insisting that the documents be served to the legal representation of Binance Holdings Limited.
Subsequently, Justice Emeka Nwite decided that Binance’s counsel should be served the documents in court before adjourning the matter to May 17 for trial.
It was on April 23 that the court, after arguments between the prosecution counsel and Gambaryan, scheduled May 17 to rule on Gambaryan’s plea.
Through his lawyer, Mark Mordi, (SAN), Gambaryan had requested bail, citing his extended detention without familial contact as a hardship.
Mordi argued against the prosecution’s claim that Gambaryan posed a flight risk.
On the other hand, the prosecution counsel, Emeka Iheanacho, urged the court to deny bail to Gambaryan and transfer him from Kuje prison to EFCC custody for security reasons.
Iheanacho alleged that Gambaryan, like Anjarwalla, was a flight risk and provided details of Gambaryan’s attempt to obtain a new passport deceitfully.
Gambaryan, along with Binance Holdings Limited and Anjarwalla, who is currently evading the authorities, was detained by the Federal Government due to their alleged involvement in money laundering activities amounting to $35 million.
The three defendants were accused of collaborating to disguise the source of the financial proceeds from their illicit activities in Nigeria.