An Abuja federal high court on Wednesday dismissed a fundamental rights enforcement suit filed by an executive of Binance Holdings Ltd, Nadeem Anjarwalla against the office of the national security adviser and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Gatekeepers News reports that the presiding judge, Inyang Ekwo dismissed the suit on Wednesday due to a lack of diligent prosecution because no lawyer appeared for Anjarwalla the applicant wasn’t present in court when the case was called.
In his ruling, Ekwo noted that on March 28, when the matter came up, Tonye Krukrubo, who represented Anjarwalla, had requested to withdraw his appearance in the matter and the application was granted. The matter was then adjourned to June 19 for mention.
Recall that the federal government on February 28, detained two top Binance executives over charges bordering on illegal operations in the country and foreign exchange rate manipulations.
The binance executives whi detained included Anjarwalla, a 37-year-old British Kenyan and Binance’s regional manager for Africa; and Tigran Gambaryan, a 39-year-old US citizen and Binance’s head of financial crime compliance.
The federal government also filed criminal charges against Binance for tax evasion on March 25.
The executives then filed different fundamental rights suits marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/355/24 and FHC/ABJ/CS/356/24 against the office of NSA and EFCC as 1st and 2nd respondents each.
They alledged that their detention and seizure of their international travel passport contravened Section 35 (1) and (4) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).
The judge dismissed Anjarwalla’s suit was dismissed while he fixed July 9 for Gambaryan’s case hearing.
The judge fixed the date after Gambaryan’s lawyer, Krukrubo, moved a motion seeking to amend their originating process.
The EFCC’s lawyer, Olarewanju Adeila opposed the motion, but the judge ruled that were, by law, entitled to amend their processes before judgment.
The judge, however, asked Gambaryan to pay a fine of N50,000, and the fine must be paid before the next adjourned date.
