2024-05-02
The Nigerian Central Bureau (NCB) of Interpol has confirmed that they have completed the necessary extradition paperwork for Nadeem Anjarwalla, an executive of Binance Holdings who had fled the jurisdiction.
This confirmation was made by Garba Umar, the head of the Nigerian NCB, during an appearance on the local Sunrise Daily program on April 30.
Umar stated that the organization is actively collaborating with various countries' governments to issue a Red Notice against Anjarwalla and provide the required treaties, memorandum of understanding, and other documentation to facilitate his extradition to Nigeria for trial.
While the Interpol official did not confirm whether the Binance executive is currently held in Kenya, they did mention that Anjarwalla was last seen in the country.
Umar informed, "I'm not aware, but what I can tell you is that the last destination I know on my record of this guy when he fled [Nigeria] was Kenya.
That I can confirm to you." Interpol has reached out to all the countries through which Anjarwalla was believed to have transited and has obtained certain information that cannot be shared on the current platform.
Anjarwalla, along with his colleague Tigran Gambaryan, was detained in Nigeria on charges of money laundering and tax evasion.
However, on March 22, Anjarwalla managed to escape Nigerian custody and flee to Kenya.
It remains unclear how he was able to board an international flight since his United Kingdom passport, which he used to enter Nigeria, is still in the custody of Nigerian authorities.
While Anjarwalla fled, Gambaryan pleaded not guilty to the charges brought against him.
After spending several weeks in detention, Gambaryan's wife and others have called for his release.
His wife initiated a petition to bring him back to the United States, which has garnered 4,161 signatures at the time of writing.
Gambaryan's next bail hearing is scheduled for May 17.
On March 5, Binance announced its decision to cease all Nigerian naira transactions, effectively exiting the market.
The cryptocurrency exchange also delisted all naira trading pairs from its peer-to-peer (P2P) trading platform in late February.
This move came after the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria raised concerns about illicit transactions and suspicious fund flows at Binance and other crypto exchanges in Nigeria.
