Nadeem Anjarwalla, one of the Binance executives detained in Nigeria for alleged tax evasion and other crimes, has managed to escape from custody.
According to Premium Times, Anjarwalla, 38, fled on Friday, March 22nd, from the Abuja guest house where he and his colleague were being held.
The report says that guards allowed him to go to a nearby mosque for prayers during the ongoing Ramadan fast, and he took advantage of the opportunity to escape.
Anjarwalla, a British citizen with Kenyan citizenship, is believed to have left Abuja on a Middle East airline.
It is unclear how he was able to board an international flight since his British passport, which he used to enter Nigeria, was still in the custody of Nigerian authorities.
Authorities are now trying to figure out where Anjarwalla was headed in order to bring him back into custody.
An immigration official mentioned in the report stated that the Binance executive left Nigeria using a Kenyan passport.
However, they are investigating how he obtained the passport since he did not have any other travel documents besides his British passport.
According to another source, the two officials were staying at a comfortable guest house where they had many rights, including access to telephones. Anjarwalla used this privilege to plan an escape.
Anjarwalla, who is Binance’s Africa regional manager, and Tigran Gambaryan, a US citizen responsible for financial crime compliance at the crypto exchange platform, were arrested when they arrived in Nigeria on 26 February 2024.
The Nigerian government brought criminal charges against the two executives in a Magistrate Court in Abuja.
On 28 February 2024, the court granted the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) permission to keep the duo in custody for 14 days.
The court also instructed Binance to provide the Nigerian government with information about Nigerians trading on its platform.
Since Binance refused to comply with the order, the court extended the officials’ custody for another 14 days to prevent them from tampering with evidence. The case was then postponed until 4 April 2024.
On March 22, the Nigerian government took legal action at the Federal High Court in Abuja.
They accused Binance Holdings Limited, Anjarwalla, and Gambaryan of offering services to subscribers on their platform without registering with the Federal Inland Revenue Service to pay the required taxes. This action is considered an offense under Section 8 of the Value Added Tax Act of 1993 (as Amended).
The government claims that Binance provided taxable services to subscribers on their trading platform without issuing invoices for value-added taxes. This is also considered an offense under S.29 of the Value Added Tax Act of 1993 (as amended).
