The Abuja Division of the Federal High Court on Friday dismissed a bail application filed by Tigran Gambaryan, the detained Binance executive.
Justice Emeka Nwite, in a ruling, held that based on the affidavit evidence before him, Mr Gambaryan would jump bail if the application was granted.
“I have carefully considered the affidavit evidence before me and I am of the view that the applicant will jump bail if granted bail,” the judge declared.
However, the judge ordered an accelerated hearing in the trial.
The judge fixed Friday (today) for the ruling on April 23 after counsel for the EFCC, Ekele Iheanacho, and Mr Gambaryan’s lawyer, Mark Mordi, adopted their processes and argued their cases against and for the bail plea.
The judge ordered Mr Gambaryan’s remand in Kuje prison custody after he pleaded not guilty to the money laundering charges the EFCC preferred against him.
The EFCC had accused Binance Holdings Limited, Mr Gambaryan, and Nadeem Anjarwalla, another company agent, of conspiring to conceal the origin of the financial proceeds of their alleged unlawful activities in Nigeria, including $35,400,000.
They were alleged to have committed an offence contrary to Section 21 (a) and punishable under Section 18(3) of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022, among others.
However, Anjarwalla escaped from lawful custody on March 22 and fled Nigeria for Kenya.
On Mr Gambaryan’s behalf, Mr Mordi filed an application seeking an order from the court to release his client on bail pending the hearing and determination of the substantive case.
Mr Mordi, in the last adjourned date, had argued that the EFCC had failed to produce any credible evidence to oppose his application. According to him, the complainant’s allegation that Mr Gambaryan was arranging to escape from custody like his colleague was false.
“There is no exhibit or document displaying EFCC’s credible intelligence,” he stated. However, EFCC’s lawyer disagreed with Mr Mordi.
Mr Iheanacho argued that the court would be taking a grave risk by granting the Binance agent bail because he had no attachment to any community in Nigeria or competent person to stand as his surety.
He contended that Mr Gambaryan attempted to apply for a new United States passport while in detention, knowing that Nigerian authorities seized his passport.
The lawyer said he was a flight risk and that if granted bail, he would jump bail like his colleague.
He disagreed with Mr Mordi that the commission had not provided credible evidence that Mr Gambaryan was planning to escape. Going by the deposition in their counter affidavit, he said that the deponent was one of the investigative teams investigating the case.
He urged the court to dismiss the bail application.
In the alternative, he advised the court to return the applicant to EFCC custody if the judge decided to grant him bail.
(NAN)