- By Halimah Olamide
An executive of Binance who has been under detention in Nigeria has escaped.
According to a report which is exclusive to Premium Times, Nadeem Anjarwalla, escaped after he was escorted out of the custody on the pretense he wanted to pray.
He is one of the two Binance executives being detained in Nigeria for alleged tax evasion and other offences.
“Our sources said Mr Anjarwalla, 38, escaped on Friday, 22 March, from the Abuja guest house where he and his colleague were detained after guards on duty led him to a nearby mosque for prayers in the spirit of the ongoing Ramadan fast,” Premium Times reported Monday morning
Anjarwalla is said to be a British also with Kenyan citizenship.
Premium Times said there are suspicions that he was flown out discreetly via a Middle East airliner.
The development is said to have thrown security agencies into confusion over what form of conspiracy could have allowed the Binance top official to escape.
Premium Times quoted an Immigration official as saying the Binance executive fled Nigeria on a Kenyan passport. “He, however, said authorities were trying to determine how he obtained the passport, given that he had no other travel document (apart from the British passport) on him when he was taken into custody.”
The publication quoted another source saying the two officials were held at a “comfortable guest house” and allowed many rights, including the use of telephones, a privilege Mr Anjarwalla is believed to have exploited to plot an escape.
Premium Times said the Head of Strategic Communication at the Office of the National Security Adviser, Zakari Mijinyawa, said he would enquire about the development and revert.
“He has yet to do so as of the time of filing this report,” the publication stated
Mr Anjarwalla, Binance’s Africa regional manager, and Tigran Gambaryan, a US citizen overseeing financial crime compliance at the crypto exchange platform, were detained upon their arrival in Nigeria on 26 February 2024.
A criminal charge was filed against the two executives before a Magistrate Court in Abuja. On 28 February 2024, the court granted the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) an order to remand the duo for 14 days. The court also ordered Binance to provide the Nigerian government with the data/information of Nigerians trading on its platform.
Following Binance’s refusal to comply with the order, the court extended the remand of the officials for an additional 14 days to prevent them from tampering with evidence. The court then adjourned the case till 4 April 2024.
Also on 22 March, the Nigerian government approached the Federal High Court in Abuja and slammed another four-count charge on Binance Holdings Limited, Mr Anjarwalla and Mr Gambaryan, accusing them of offering services to subscribers on their platform while failing to register with the Federal Inland Revenue Service to pay all relevant taxes administered by the Service and in so doing, committed an offence, contrary to and punishable under Section 8 of the Value Added Tax Act of 1993 (as Amended).
The defendants were also accused of offering taxable services to subscribers on their trading platform while failing to issue invoices to those subscribers to determine and pay their value-added taxes and, in so doing, committed an offence contrary to and punishable under S.29 of the Value Added Tax Act of 1993 (as amended).