Tigran Gambaryan, an American citizen and Binance's head of financial crime compliance, attends a court hearing at the federal High Courts, in Abuja, Nigeria, Thursday, April 4, 2024. Nigerian authorities have asked a local court to prosecute Binance and two of its executives for alleged money laundering and tax evasion. The request was made on Thursday at the high court in the capital of Abuja where one of the executives, Gambaryan, was produced in court while the second remains at large after recently fleeing custody. (AP Photo/Olamikan Gbemiga )
The Federal High Court in Abuja has dismissed the fundamental rights enforcement suit filed by former Binance executive Tigran Gambaryan, ruling that his challenge to his 2024 detention by the Office of the National Security Adviser (NSA) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) amounted to an abuse of court process.
Delivering judgment on Thursday, Justice Mohammed Umar held that the NSA acted within the scope of its lawful authority, emphasizing that no court could restrain security agencies from conducting legitimate investigations.
Gambaryan, Binance’s former head of financial crime compliance, had asked the court to declare his detention unlawful. Through his counsel, Tonye Krukrubo, he claimed the government wrongfully held him as “leverage to continue making demands on Binance.” He said he travelled to Nigeria on February 26, 2024, with a colleague, Nadeem Anjarwalla, in response to an invitation from the NSA and EFCC, but was detained despite not being a company director. Anjarwalla later escaped from custody and fled the country.
The suit, numbered FHC/ABJ/CS/356/2024, sought declarations that his detention between February 26–27 and March 12–April 8, 2024, was illegal, alongside a public apology and monetary damages.
But counsel for the NSA and EFCC urged the court to dismiss the application, calling it a distraction from an active criminal proceeding before another judge. They pointed to case FHC/ABJ/CR/138/2024, which involves allegations of money laundering and foreign exchange violations levelled against Binance Holdings Ltd.
EFCC lawyer Olanrewaju Adeola noted that Gambaryan was lawfully remanded and subsequently arraigned before Justice Emeka Nwite, who denied him bail on grounds that he posed a flight risk.
In his decision, Justice Umar stressed that the court would not use the platform of human rights enforcement to undermine the prosecutorial powers of the Nigerian government, especially when investigations touching on foreign exchange regulations and money laundering are ongoing.
He added that while fundamental rights are constitutionally guaranteed, they are not absolute and may be limited in matters involving national security or criminal inquiries.
The judge noted that criminal charges had already been filed against Binance, and affidavits before the court indicated that the NSA acted based on intelligence reports linking the cryptocurrency platform to alleged illicit activities. Consequently, he dismissed the suit in its entirety.
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