Nadeem Anjarwalla, Binance’s regional manager for Africa, one of the company’s two executives detained by Nigeria’s Office of the National Security Adviser, has allegedly escaped, Premium Times reports.
This was said to have happened on Friday, March 22, 2023, from a guest house in Abuja.
It’s still unclear as to how the Binance executive would have been able to leave the country, considering that his passport has been seized.
Anjarwalla and Tigran Gambaryan, the other executive, had been detained since February 26 making it almost a month since both employees were taken by the Nigerian government.
Per Premium Times, Anjarwalla fled the Abuja guest house where he and Gambaryan were detained after he was led to pray in a nearby mosque. He is believed to have left the country using a Middle East Airliner.
The families of the detainees have called for their release, insisting that they have not done anything wrong.
The Nigerian government has demanded data on Binance’s top 100 users in the last six months, a directive the company is yet to comply with.
A court has also directed the exchange to provide the data to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Ekele Iheanacho, EFCC’s lawyer, said that there are ingredients of criminality associated with the operations of Binance in Nigeria.
Binance’s refusal to comply directed the court to extend the detainment of Anjarwalla and Gambaryan for another 14 days to prevent them from tampering with evidence.
Binance, Gambaryan, and Anjarwalla are being accused of offering services to Nigerians without registering with the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) to pay taxes, as well as offering crypto services without adding VAT.
Since the Nigerian government blamed the platform for the decline of the naira value due to bad players on its platforms, Binance has ended P2P trading and all naira-related services on its platform.
Representatives of the families have acknowledged Techpoint Africa’s inquiry to get more information on Anjarwalla’s escape.
A Binance spokesperson has also made a statement on the issue. “We’ve been made aware that Nadeem is no longer in Nigerian custody. Our primary focus remains on the safety of our employees and we are working with Nigerian authorities to quickly resolve this issue,” the company said
