Binance executives Tigran Gambaryan and Nadeem Anjarwalla are still being detained in a government property in Abuja despite Binance announcing its exit from Nigeria last week.
According to a report by Wired, the two executives are still being held by Nigerian authorities without their passports extending their incarceration time to two weeks.
Tigran Gambaryan is a former cryptocurrency-focused United States federal agent and the current head of Binance’s criminal investigation team. Nadeem Anjarwalla on the other hand is Binance’s Kenya-based regional manager for Africa.
The duo entered the country on February 25 to honor an invitation by Nigerian authorities to address the ongoing dispute with Binance regarding its allegedly unlawful operations in the country.
According to the families of the detained Binance executives, Nigerian prosecutors have not provided information on whether the two face criminal charges.
- “There’s no definite answer for anything: how he’s doing, what’s going to happen to him, when he’s coming back,” Gambaryan’s wife, Yuki Gambaryan, reportedly said.
A spokesperson for Binance confirmed to CoinTelegraph that Gambaryan and Anjarwalla are still detained in Nigeria as of March 12, stating.
- “While it is inappropriate for us to comment on the substance of the claims at this time, we can say that we are working collaboratively with Nigerian authorities to bring Nadeem and Tigran back home safely to their families.”
The Binance representatives added that both detained executives are professionals and are confident there would be a swift resolution to the matter.
During their two weeks of incarceration by the Nigerian authorities, Gambaryan, a United States citizen was visited by a U.S. State Department official while Anjarwalla a dual citizen of the United Kingdom and Kenya was visited by a representative of the UK foreign office.
Nigerian guards were present in both meetings preventing the Binance execs from speaking in private with their visitors.
The arrest of the Binance executives came before Binance announced its exit from Nigeria on March 5.
What To Know
- Nigerian authorities earlier accused Binance of devaluing Nigeria’s official currency, the naira, and enabling illicit flow of funds. Nigerian authorities prompted Telecom providers to block access to Binance and other crypto exchanges. This prompted the arrival of the Binance executives in Nigeria to address the issue.
- On March 5th, Binance announced its exit from Nigeria. It suspended Naira withdrawals on March 8th and removed all trading pairs involving the naira on March 7. The Platform also disabled Peer to Peer trading with the Naira.
- Nairametrics earlier on reported that Nigerian authorities slapped a $10bn fine on Binance over allegations of influencing its forex crisis. There has been little report on Binance’s response to this.
