The Nigerian Central Bureau (NCB) of the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) has announced the successful completion of extradition paperwork for Nadeem Anjarwalla, an executive of Binance Holdings, who fled the country.
During an interview on the local Sunrise Daily program on April 30, Garba Umar, the head of the Nigerian NCB, stated that the organization is actively collaborating with various governments to issue a Red Notice against Anjarwalla and provide the necessary treaties, memorandum of understanding, and other documentation to facilitate his extradition back to Nigeria for a trial.
Although the Interpol official did not confirm whether the Binance executive is currently detained in Kenya, it was mentioned that he was last seen in the country. Umar stated:
“We have contacted all countries where Anjarwalla is believed to have traveled, and we have obtained certain information that cannot be shared on this platform.”
Anjarwalla, who was initially detained in Nigeria along with his colleague Tigran Gambaryan on charges of money laundering and tax evasion, managed to escape Nigerian custody on March 22 and fled to Kenya.
Meanwhile, Gambaryan, who pleaded not guilty to the charges, has remained in detention. His wife, along with others, has initiated a petition to bring him back to the United States, which has garnered 4,161 signatures as of now. Gambaryan’s next bail hearing is scheduled for May 17.
On March 5, Binance announced its decision to halt all Nigerian naira transactions, effectively exiting the market. The platform also delisted all naira trading pairs on its peer-to-peer trading platform at the end of February.
This move came after the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria accused crypto exchanges in the country of facilitating illicit transactions and pointed to “suspicious flows” of funds at Binance.
Magazine:
SBF receives 25-year prison sentence, Fidelity explores ETH staking, and Coinbase faces legal defeat: Hodler’s Digest, March 24-30