A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja on Thursday, dismissed a suit filed by former Binance Head of Financial Crime Compliance, Tigran Gambaryan, against the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, claiming unlawful and prolonged detention.
Justice Umar Mohammed dismissed the case, ruling that the court would not, under the guise of Gambaryan’s fundamental rights claims, “interfere” with the prosecutorial role of the Nigerian authorities in investigating suspected foreign exchange violations and alleged money laundering involving the Binance platform.
This was confirmed in a statement by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, shared on its Facebook page on Thursday.
According to the statement, Gambaryan filed the suit against the EFCC and the office of the National Security Adviser, NSA, seeking compensation and costs over his purported prolonged detention by security operatives in connection with the Federal Government’s money laundering and foreign exchange contravention allegations against Binance.
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It was added that EFCC counsel, Olanrewaju Adeola told the court that Gambaryan was lawfully detained based on charges of money laundering foreign exchange violations.
He described the suit of the former Binance chief as “ a gross abuse of court processes”.
The statement further disclosed that the EFCC’s position was upheld with the dismissal of the suit by the court.