The scheduled arraignment of top Binance officials at the Federal High Court in Abuja failed on Thursday after the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) said it could not serve charges on the defendants.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) similarly failed to arraign them in a separate case before another judge of the court.
A lawyer to the Nigerian tax agency, FIRS, Moses Ideho, informed the judge, Emeka Nwite, that his client made efforts to serve the charges on Tigran Gambaryan, one of the two Binance executives charged in the case, but was denied access.
Mr Gambaryan is being held by the EFCC in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital city. Binance and its two officials – Tigran Gambaryan and Nadeem Anjarwalla – were to be arraigned on five counts of money laundering and tax evasion before Mr Nwite on Thursday.
“My Lord, the prosecution has not been able to serve a copy of the charge on the second defendant (Tigran Gambaryan).
“As a result, we mobilised the court bailiff to serve the second defendant but he was denied access, too,” Mr Ideho told the court.
Thereafter, the prosecution lawyer sought the court’s permission to serve Mr Gambaryan with a copy of the charge.
He, also, prayed the court to allow Mr Gambaryan to confer with his lawyers to determine the mode of plea he would take.
But, Mr Gambaryan’s lawyer, Chukwuka Ikwazom, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), opposed his client’s taking of plea in the matter.
Mr Iwazom said he needed time to discuss the case with Mr Gambaryan.
“For another agency of government to say it has no access to the defendant shows the ‘seriousness’ of how the prosecution handles the case,” Mr Gambaryan’s lawyer told the court.
After a heated argument over the failure of the government to effect service on the second defendant, Mr Ideho sought an adjournment to enable Mr Gambaryan to consult with his team of lawyers regarding the charge.
Credit: premiumtimesng.com
