Story Highlights
- Binance executive Tigran Gambaryan seeks compensation from Nigeria’s National Security Adviser (NSA) and Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for his prolonged detention.
- Gambaryan claims his detention violated his rights and was used to pressure Binance, causing hardship to his family.
- The court allowed Gambaryan to serve his amended suit which includes indemnity costs on the respondents; the next hearing is on July 9, 2024.
A Binance Executive, Tigran Gambaryan has asked the Federal High Court Abuja to award “costs” against the Office of the National Security Adviser(NSA) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission(EFCC) over his prolonged detention in Nigeria.
This was contained in his proposed amended originating motion for the enforcement of his fundamental rights in the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/356/2024 dated May 8, 2024, and announced before the court by his lawyer, Tonye Krukrubo SAN on Wednesday, June 19, 2024.
Nairametrics previously reported that Gambaryan’s lawyer had in his first fundamental right suit, asked Justice Inyang Ekwo to compel the office of the NSA and the EFCC to apologize to him over his detention in the country.
The matter was then adjourned till June 19 for a hearing.
Gambaryan’s proposed amended suit
Ahead of Wednesday’s hearing, Gambaryan’s lawyer sought leave of court to amend his fundamental rights suit.
Gambaryan had earlier disclosed in his initial fundamental rights suit that the federal government was using his continued detention “as leverage to continue making demands on Binance.”
In his grounds of application, the applicant’s lawyer Krukrubo had explained to the court that his client is an American citizen who visited Nigeria on 26 February 2024, along with Nadeem Anjarwalla, solely for the purpose of honouring the invitation by Mr. Saad Abubakar of the NSA and Mr. Olalekan Ogunjobi of the EFCC for a meeting with government officials as representatives of Binance.
He added that after honouring the invitation, his client, who is not a board member of Binance, was detained afterwards and has not been released.
The applicant then urged the court to declare his detention and the seizure of his international travel passport as a violation of his fundamental right to personal liberty guaranteed by the 1999 Constitution, adding that Nigeria’s security agencies should be perpetually restrained from further detaining him in relation to any investigation into, or demands from Binance, a cryptocurrency exchange platform.
In his proposed amended originating motion seen by Nairametrics, Krukrubo now seeks for “the costs of this action on a full indemnity basis“, in addition to other reliefs contained in the initial suit.
A party seeking an indemnity costs order is literally seeking compensation against a party over the expenses and inconvenience associated with the litigation.
The senior lawyer stressed in his proposed amended originating motion that “The unlawful detention of the applicant (Gambaryan)by the respondents from February 26, 2024, to 27 February 2024 (period of detention pre-remand order) and from 12 March 2024 to 8 April 2024 (period of detention post expiry of the remand order, until arraignment) has caused immense hardship and emotional stress on the Applicant, his wife and children and other members of his family.”
What transpired in court
At the resumption of proceedings, Krukrubo told Justice Inyang Ekwo to grant him leave to amend his suit, that is, file his proposed amended originating motion and for the court to approve it.
But EFCC’s counsel Olanrewaju Adeola urged the court to hold that the application for amendment is incompetent and should be refused with a heavy cost.
After hearing the parties, the judge overruled the EFCC counsel and directed Gambaryan’s lawyer to serve the amended motion on the respondents within two days.
“The motion on notice by the applicant for amendment of his originating process dated May 8, 2024, is moved.
“The learned counsel for the respondents has adopted his counter affidavit in opposition to the application for amendment.
“I have studied the averments thereof and I am of the opinion that I ought to overrule the opposition to this amendment because, by law, parties are entitled to amend their processes even before judgment.
“I am minded therefore to grant the application for amendment,” the judge ruled while adjourning the case to July 9 for a full hearing on the amended motion and any other application.
The judge also ordered the applicant to pay the respondents N50,000 for the cost of the processes they filed in the initial fundamental rights suit.
Backstory
- Recently, the federal government accused the cryptocurrency exchange of influencing foreign exchange (FX) rates, leading to stricter oversight of crypto trading platforms.
- On February 28, Nigerian authorities detained two senior Binance executives: Nadeem Anjarwalla, a 37-year-old British-Kenyan who serves as the regional manager for Africa, and Tigran Gambaryan, a 39-year-old American who is the head of financial crime compliance at Binance.
- Following the federal government’s ban on cryptocurrency channels as part of a campaign against currency speculation, the Binance executives visited Nigeria for a meeting.
- The Naira has experienced a significant devaluation of its currency, with the Naira losing 70% of its value against the dollar since the foreign exchange reforms were implemented last year, a situation worsened by a shortage of dollars locally.
- The NSA later confirmed that Nadeem had fled the country.
- Meanwhile, last week, the FIRS filed amendment charges against them with Binance as the sole defendant.
- The development followed the confirmation of a Nigerian representative from Binance.
- Trial judge, Emeka Nwite eventually struck out the Binance executives’ names from the FIRS matter leaving them as co-defendants in the money laundering suit filed by the EFCC.