Tigran Gambaryan, Binance executive, in court in 2024 | File photo
A federal high court in Abuja has dismissed a fundamental rights enforcement suit filed by Tigran Gambaryan, a former Binance executive.
The plaintiff had challenged his detention by the office of the National Security Adviser (NSA) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in 2024.
Delivering judgment on Thursday, Mohammed Umar, presiding judge, held that the suit amounted to an abuse of court process, ruling that the NSA acted within its statutory powers and that no court could restrain investigative agencies from carrying out their lawful duties.
Gambaryan, Binance’s former head of financial crime compliance, had filed the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/356/2024 through his lawyer, Tonye Krukrubo.
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He alleged unlawful and prolonged detention, claiming the government was using him “as leverage to continue making demands on Binance”.
He argued that he arrived in Nigeria on February 26, 2024, with colleague Nadeem Anjarwalla to honour an invitation from officials of the NSA and EFCC, but was detained despite not being a director of the cryptocurrency firm.
Anjarwalla later escaped custody and fled the country.
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Krukrubo asked the court to declare the detention periods — February 26 to 27; and March 12 to April 8, 2024 — unlawful, and to order an apology and damages.
But lawyers to the NSA and EFCC urged the court to dismiss the suit, describing it as a ploy to undermine an ongoing criminal case in a suit marked FHC/ABJ/CR/138/2024 before Emeka Nwite, a federal high court judge, involving allegations of money laundering and foreign exchange violations against Binance Holdings Ltd.
Olanrewaju Adeola, EFCC counsel, told the court that a valid remand order existed during the period in question and that Gambaryan had already been arraigned before Nwite, who refused his bail application on the grounds that he was a flight risk.
In his judgment, Umar held that the court would not “interfere” with the prosecutorial powers of the Nigerian authorities under the guise of enforcing fundamental rights, especially where allegations of foreign exchange contravention and money laundering were being investigated.
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He noted that Binance faces pending criminal charges filed earlier in the year, and that the affidavits before the court established that the NSA acted on intelligence reports concerning alleged illicit financial activities linked to the platform.
Umar added that while fundamental rights are guaranteed, they are not absolute and may be curtailed in circumstances involving national security or ongoing criminal investigations.
The suit was accordingly dismissed.
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