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The court will hear Binance’s money laundering case next week.
Next week, the Federal High Court will consider the money laundering lawsuit brought against two executives and cryptocurrency exchange Binance.
The case is scheduled to begin more than a month sooner than anticipated, as per a Reuters report. The prosecutor stated on Monday that defense attorneys requested the timetable adjustment.
The next court date, which was initially set for October 11, has been moved to September 2.
Charges of money laundering exceeding $35 million have been brought against Binance and its officials, including Tigan Gambaryan, an American citizen who oversees financial crime compliance, and Nadeem Anjarwalla, a British-Kenyan regional manager for Africa.
The biggest cryptocurrency exchange in the world, Binance, is also being accused of evading taxes.
Gambaryan and Binance have refuted the accusations. Before the trial began, Anjarwalla fled Nigeria after breaking out of custody.
According to his wife Yuki Gambaryan, Gambaryan has been imprisoned in Nigeria since February, and during that time, his health has declined.
She sought the U.S. government to assist in securing her husband’s release and made an appeal to the Nigerian authorities to drop the charges against him on the grounds of his health.
Since cryptocurrency websites became the go-to venues for trading the Nigerian naira as the nation struggled with ongoing dollar shortages and saw its currency drop to a record low, Nigeria has blamed Binance for its currency’s weakness.
In March, Binance announced that it would cease all naira transactions and trading following a nationwide crackdown on cryptocurrency exchanges that the government blamed for fueling a foreign exchange illegal market.
Recall that Gambaryan was wheeled into the courtroom in a wheelchair in July.
But when the issue was called, Gambaryan, clad in blue jeans and a black T-shirt, got out of the wheelchair and entered the dock cautiously.
Ogechi Ujam, an attorney for the EFCC, informed the court that although the case was set for trial continuation, Ekele Iheanacho, the commission’s main attorney, was not present.
In order to allow Iheanacho to lead the trial, Ujam had asked the court to put the case on hold.
The application was not opposed by Mark Mordi, who represented Gambaryan, or Babatunde Fagbohunlu (SAN), the lawyer for Binance.
Emeka Nwite, the judge, resigned from the case.
On July 5, Justice Emeka Nwite gave the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS) management an order to release Gambaryan’s medical certificate by July 16 at the latest.
The judge granted the injunction in response to a request from Gambaryan’s attorney.
In an earlier court order, Mordi had pleaded for the court to call the medical staff at Kuje Correctional Centre to account for the doctor’s claimed refusal to provide his client’s medical report.