Mr Nadeem Anjarwalla, one of the two Binance executives arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over tax evasion and other related offenses, has reportedly escaped custody.
Both Nadeem Anjarwalla and Tigran Gambaryan were arrested and detained in February by the EFCC in an attempt by the government to rein in speculation on the naira by cracking down on cryptocurrency exchanges.
Among the charges against Binance are, non-payment of Value-Added Tax, Company Income Tax, failure to file tax returns, and complicity in aiding customers to evade taxes through its platform.
According to reports from Premium Times, Anjarwalla had reportedly escaped from the Abuja guest house where he and his colleague were being held on Friday.
The report further explained that he escaped after some guards on duty escorted him to a nearby mosque for prayers.
Mr Anjarwalla who has dual citizenship with Kenya and Britain is suspected to have departed Abuja through a Middle East airline.
It is still unclear at this point, how Anjarwalla boarded an international flight with his British passport, especially since the passport is being held by Nigerian authorities.
According to some reports, the authorities are also working to unravel his intended destination to get him back into custody.
An Immigration officer has revealed that the Binance executive fled Nigeria on a Kenyan passport and also disclosed that the authorities are working to unearth how he obtained the passport, given the fact that he had no other travel document (apart from the British passport) on him when he was arrested.
Another officer revealed that the Binance executives were granted numerous privileges, such as access to telephones and Anjarwalla may have taken advantage of this opportunity to plan his escape.
The National Security Adviser’s office confirmed the incident in a statement through its spokesman Zakari Mijinyawa, on Monday.
According to Mijinyawa, “The Office of the National Security Adviser confirms that Nadeem Anjarwalla, a suspect in the ongoing criminal probe into the activities of Binance in Nigeria has escaped from lawful custody on Friday, 22 March 2024,
“Preliminary investigation shows that Mr Anjarwalla fled Nigeria using a smuggled passport,
“The personnel responsible for the custody of the suspect have been arrested, and a thorough investigation is ongoing to unravel the circumstances that led to his escape from lawful detention.”
