Global cryptocurrency trading platform Binance on Wednesday called for the release of Tigran Gambaryan, its executive in Nigerian custody.
A spokesperson for the crypto giant said Gambaryan helped Nigeria’s anti-graft and security agencies recover assets and tackle money laundering, fraud, and kidnapping around June and late 2023.
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“The information Gambaryan provided to the Nigerian government helped tackle various degrees of crimes – fraud, money laundering, blackmail, kidnapping, and extortion – that led to multiple asset freezes and seizures, totalling more than $400,000 USD,” a Binance spokesperson said.
The company claimed that Gambaryan’s team also provided multiple training sessions for Nigerian crime fighters on the role of exchanges in the digital-asset ecosystem.
Binance disclosed that Gambaryan tutored 70 officials of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and over 30 investigators in Lagos and Abuja during a three-hour workshop.
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EFCC spokesman Dele Oyewale did not deny Binance’s claim in a phone conversation with our correspondent. He, however, promised to check the EFCC records to provide further details.
Nigerian authorities detained Gambaryan and his colleague Nadeem Anjarwalla in late February when they arrived in the West African country to dialogue with government officials over the clampdown on the cryptocurrency platform.
Their detention of the officials came a day after Nigeria’s central bank governor Olayemi Cardoso said that about $26 billion, mostly from unknown sources, flowed through the exchange in the last year.
Anjarwalla escaped from Nigerian custody on Friday, 22 March, when guards on duty led him to a nearby mosque for prayers for the ongoing Ramadan fast.
The Briton, who also has Kenyan citizenship, is believed to have flown out of Abuja using a Middle East airliner. Nigeria said it has contacted Interpol to rearrest the Binance executive.
Binance said it continuing its discussions with Nigerian authorities but requests that Gambaryan “who has no decision-making power in the company” is freed.
“Tigran is a strict law enforcement professional and is not part of Binance management,” Binance said.
