One of the Binance executives detained in Nigeria, Nadeem Anjarwalla, has reportedly escaped lawful custody. Anjarwalla, aged 38, allegedly escaped on Friday, March 22, 2024, from the Abuja guest house where he and his colleague were being detained. Guards on duty reportedly led him to a nearby mosque for prayers during the ongoing Ramadan fast, and he took advantage of the situation to escape. Anjarwalla, who holds Kenyan citizenship along with a British passport, is believed to have flown out of Abuja using a Middle East airline.
The escape was facilitated by Anjarwalla’s access to various privileges, including the use of telephones, provided during his detention at a “comfortable guest house.” It is suggested that he exploited these privileges to plan his escape.
The Head of Strategic Communication at the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), Zakari Mijinyawa, was contacted regarding the escape but has yet to provide any information on the matter.
Anjarwalla, Binance’s Africa regional manager, and Tigran Gambaryan, a US citizen overseeing financial crime compliance at the cryptocurrency exchange platform, were detained upon their arrival in Nigeria on February 26, 2024. They were charged before a Magistrate Court in Abuja, and on February 28, 2024, the court granted the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) an order to remand them for 14 days.
Subsequently, on March 22, 2024, the Nigerian government filed an additional four-count charge against Binance Holdings Limited, Anjarwalla, and Gambaryan. The charges accuse them of offering services on their platform without registering with the Nigeria’s Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) to pay relevant taxes and failing to issue invoices to subscribers for determining and paying value-added taxes. They are also accused of failing to deduct necessary value-added taxes from their operations and aiding subscribers in unlawfully refusing to pay taxes or neglecting to pay them. These actions are said to violate various tax laws and regulations.