Binance chief: FG contacts INTERPOL, soldiers held over detainee’s escape
Nadeem Anjarwalla, an executive at the international cryptocurrency company Binance, was among the imprisoned executives who fled from lawful custody on Friday. The Federal Government called the International Criminal Police Organisation on Monday and issued an arrest order for his capture.
Additionally, information was obtained from the Office of the National Security Adviser indicating that Anjarwalla, a suspect in the investigation into Binance's operations in Nigeria, fled with a Kenyan passport while his colleague was still being held.
An airline from the Middle East helped the British-Kenyan national Binance official flee Abuja. His Nigerian employer acknowledged that Anjarwalla was out of the country and that the company would work with security services.
Security services were taken aback by the executive's escape, divulging that he was being held in a "safe house" under military guard and that the on-duty security officers had been arrested.
Preliminary investigation revealed that Anjarwalla fled Nigeria using a smuggled international passport, according to a statement released by the Office of the National Security Adviser's Head of Strategic Communication, Zakari Mijinyawa, in Abuja on Monday.
It was mentioned by him that the suspect was still being sought for.
"Nadeem Anjarwalla, a suspect in the ongoing criminal investigation into Binance's activities in Nigeria, has escaped from lawful custody on Friday, March 22, 2024," the Office of the National Security Adviser confirmed in a statement.
"This office moved quickly to apprehend the suspect upon receiving this report, working with the relevant security agencies, Ministries, Departments, and Agencies as well as the international community."
"International arrest warrant for the suspect is being sought by security agencies in collaboration with Interpol." According to a preliminary inquiry, Mr. Anjarwalla used a stolen passport to leave Nigeria.
Mijinyawa announced that Anjarwalla's guardians had been taken into jail and that inquiries were still underway to determine the details of his escape.
Individuals detained
"The suspect's guardians have been detained, and a comprehensive inquiry is in progress to determine the sequence of events that resulted in his escape from imprisonment.
"Recall that the Federal Government of Nigeria, along with other governments across the globe, has been looking into allegations of money laundering and financing of terrorism carried out through transactions on the Binance cryptocurrency exchange platform.
Nadeem Anjarwalla was being tried by Nigerian courts prior to his escape. He was Binance's Africa Regional Manager and a dual citizen of Kenya and the United Kingdom.
The culprit broke out from a 14-day remand order issued by a Nigerian court. April 4, 2024 was his next planned appearance before the court, the statement continued.
The spokesperson for ONSA appealed to Nigerians and the global world to contribute any information that could result in the suspect's arrest.
Mijinyawa declared, "We implore the people of Nigeria and the international community to contribute any information they possess that can help law enforcement agencies to apprehend the suspect."
Due to a prohibition on their website, two firm officials were detained and arrested when they arrived in the nation, according to a report published by Financial Times on February 28, 2024.
The FT revealed on March 12, 2024, that the EFCC had requested that Binance provide information on its 100 most popular users in Nigeria, along with the whole transaction history for the previous six months.
Since the news surfaced on Monday morning, Anjarwalla's Friday escape from detention has sparked outrage across the nation.
The British passport of the beleaguered Binance executive, who holds dual citizenship from Kenya and the United Kingdom, was confiscated by Nigerian officials.
However, the Office of the NSA spokeswoman, Mijinyawa, disclosed that Anjarwalla left the country using his Kenyan passport in an exclusive chat with our journalist on Monday night.
In response to a question about which nation Anjarwalla had used as his passport to flee Nigeria, Mijinwaya said, "Kenyan. The Nigerian authorities still possess his other passport.
Anjarwalla and his colleague Tigran Gambaryan were being held in a "safe house" under the protection of heavily armed soldiers, according to reliable sources who spoke with one of our correspondents.
The troubled cryptocurrency experts were arrested, according to more information, at the National Security Advisor's (Nuhu Ribadu) request.
For many of us in the security world, Mr. Anjarwalla's escape from custody was unexpected. He and his companion were held in a "safe house" under the protection of heavily armed Nigerian Army soldiers, as instructed by NSA Nuhu Ribadu, rather than by the EFCC or the DSS, according to one of the sources.
Speaking on the condition of anonymity, a second source stated, "The soldiers who were on duty the day he escaped have been detained and are being questioned over the matter."
"The poet is being coordinated by the Office of the National Security Adviser, while other relevant security agencies, including the police, DSS, EFCC, and FIRS, are conducting their own independent investigations and have been questioning the Binance executives at the military-guarded'safe house.'"
On the other hand, neither the Nigerian Police Force nor the Nigerian Immigration Service commented on the development.
NIS remains silent.
Questions regarding how Anjarwalla obtained a smuggled passport and about preparations to notify the Kenyan and British authorities about his whereabouts were not answered by the NIS spokesperson, Dr. Forum Aridegbe, or the Force Public Relations Officer, Olumuyiwa Adejobi.
Maj Gen. Onyema Nwachukwu, the Director of Army Public Relations, responded, "I currently do not have information about soldiers reportedly guarding the said escapees," when asked what would happen to the military officers that guarded the residence from where the Binance boss fled. If I do, I'll reply.
Anjarwalla, 38, broke out from the Abuja guest house on Friday, March 22, 2024, where he and a companion were being held. The guards had brought him to a neighbouring mosque for prayers in observance of the continuing Ramadan fast.
In an effort to reunite him with his family, authorities are reportedly deciphering his planned destination.
The Binance executive left Nigeria using a Kenyan passport, according to an immigration official. But given that he had no other travel documents on him when he was taken into prison, he claimed that officials were attempting to ascertain how he obtained the passport.
Anjarwalla is thought to have taken advantage of the officials' allowance to use telephones while they were being held at a "comfortable guest house," according to a second source.
Arriving in Nigeria on February 26, 2024, Anjarwalla and Tigran Gambaryan, a US citizen in charge of financial crime compliance at the cryptocurrency trading platform, were taken into custody.
Before an Abuja Magistrate Court, a criminal complaint was brought against the two executives. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission received an order from the court on February 28, 2024, remanding the two for a period of fourteen days.
Additionally, the court mandated that Binance give the Nigerian government access to the data and details of Nigerian traders using its platform.
The executives were remanded for an extra 14 days by the court to prevent evidence tampering after Binance refused to comply with the order. The case was then postponed until April 4, 2024 by the court.
A four-count charge against Binance Holdings Limited, Anjarwalla, and Gambaryan was brought by the Nigerian government to the Federal High Court in Abuja on March 22. The charges accuse the defendants of providing services to users of their platform while neglecting to register with the Federal Inland Revenue Service and pay all applicable taxes managed by the platform.
They also violated Section 8 of the Value Added Tax Act of 1993 (as amended) by doing this, for which they are penalised.
The accused further claimed that the defendants provided taxable services to users of their trading platform without sending them invoices so they could calculate and pay their value-added taxes, which would have violated S.29 of the Value Added Tax Act of 1993 (as amended).
The three defendants were charged in count three of the case with providing services to users of their Binance trading platform for the purchase, sale, and transfer of cryptocurrencies as well as the failure to withhold the required Value Added Taxes from their business operations. This was alleged to be a violation of Section 40 of the Federal Inland Revenue Service Establishment Act 2007 (as amended) and would result in penalties.
The final count of the charges calls for the defendants to be found guilty of conspiring to encourage users of their Binance trading platform to willfully fail to pay taxes or refuse to pay them altogether, thereby committing an offence against the provisions of S.94 of the Companies Income Tax Act (as amended).
The Nigerian government has been taking aggressive measures against individuals it believes are financing terrorism and money laundering, and some of them are accus
