According to people familiar with the situation, Nadeem Anjarwalla, one of the two Binance executives being held in Nigeria on suspicion of tax evasion and other offenses, has fled from detention. PREMIUM TIMES has been informed of this.
According to our sources, Mr. Anjarwalla, 38, broke free from the Abuja guest home on Friday, March 22, where he was being held together with a companion. The guards on duty reportedly led him to a nearby mosque for prayers in observance of the ongoing Ramadan fast.
The British citizen, who is also a Kenyan, is thought to have taken a Middle East plane out of Abuja.
Even though Mr. Anjarwalla entered Nigeria using a British passport that is currently in the possession of Nigerian authorities, it is still unknown how he was able to board a foreign flight.
In an attempt to reclaim him, authorities are reportedly delving into his intended destination.
According to an immigration official, the Binance executive used a Kenyan passport to leave Nigeria. But given that he was only carrying the British passport when he was apprehended, he claimed that police were attempting to ascertain how he got the passport.
According to a second source, the two officials were housed in a “comfortable guest house” and given numerous privileges, such as the ability to use phones, which Mr. Anjarwalla is alleged to have taken use of in order to plan his escape.
When contacted on Sunday night regarding the Binance executive’s escape from custody, Zakari Mijinyawa, the Head of Strategic Communication at the Office of the National Security Adviser, promised to look into it and get back to you. As at the time this report was filed, he hadn’t done so yet.
On February 26, 2024, upon their arrival in Nigeria, Mr. Anjarwalla, the regional manager for Binance in Africa, and Tigran Gambaryan, a US citizen in charge of financial crime compliance at the cryptocurrency exchange platform, were taken into custody.
The two executives were charged with a crime in an Abuja Magistrate Court. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) was given permission by the court on February 28, 2024, to remand the two individuals for a period of 14 days. The Nigerian government was also required by the court to receive data and information about Nigerians who trade on Binance’s platform.
The officials’ remand was extended by the court for a further 14 days in order to stop them from tampering with evidence after Binance disobeyed the order. The case was then postponed until April 4, 2024 by the court.
In addition, on March 22, the Nigerian government filed a formal complaint with the Federal High Court in Abuja, accusing Binance Holdings Limited, Mr. Anjarwalla, and Mr. Gambaryan of violating Section 8 of the Value Added Tax Act of 1993 (as amended) by providing services to subscribers on their platform without registering with the Federal Inland Revenue Service and failing to pay all applicable taxes managed by the Service.
Additionally, the defendants were charged with violating S.29 of the Value Added Tax Act of 1993 (as amended) by providing taxable services to subscribers on their trading platform without sending them invoices so they could calculate and pay their value-added taxes.