Court rejects Binance executive’s fresh bail request

The Federal High Court in Abuja, on Friday, dismissed a fresh bail application filed by the detained Binance Holdings Limited’s executive, Tigran Gambaryan.

The judge. Emeka Nwite, in a ruling, dismissed the application on the.grounds that it constituted an abuse of court process.

Mr Nwite held that Me Gambaryan’s request cannot be granted when he was still challenging the earlier bail ruling at the Court of Appeal.

The judge, who stressed that the defendant failed to withdraw his pending appeal against the earlier ruling on his bail application before filling another motion, said such an act amounted to an abuse of court process.

“There is no gainsaying on this leg alone that this application is bound to fail,” he said.

He further held that Mr Gambaryan had not shown to the court that the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS) did not have adequate facilities or had failed to take care of his ill-health.

“Therefore, the facts before the court have shown that the Nigerian Correctional Service has the capacity to treat the second defendant,” he said.

The judge, however, ordered the NCoS to refer Mr Gambaryan to any standard hospital in Abuja for a period of two to three days.

He subsequently adjourned the matter until 18 October, 22 November and 25 November for continuation of trial.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Mr Nwite had fixed Friday for the ruling on the second bail application due to his absence from court on Wednesday.

Mr Gambaryan, previously denied bail by the trial court a few months ago, is standing trial alongside Binance, a cryptocurrency company, on five counts of money laundering and currency speculation involving as much as $34.4 million.

Binance is facing tax evasion charges in a separate case before another judge.

The United States citizen has been held at the Kuje Correctional Centre in Abuja since his arraignment in April.

In May, the court denied the Binance executive’s bail application, judging him a flight risk.

The court’s decision came about two months after Mr Gambaryan’s colleague, Nadeem Anjarwalla, reportedly escaped from a pre-trial custody in Abuja in March.

Mr Gambaryan anchored his fresh bail application on health grounds.

EFCC’s objection

Opposing his fresh bail application at the 4 September hearing, the EFCC told the trial judge, Mr Nwite, that Mr Gambaryan rejected the medical treatment at the State House Clinic.

EFCC prosecutor, Ekele Iheanacho, told trial judge Emeka Nwite while opposing Mr Gambaryan’s second bail application moved by his lawyer, Mark Mordi, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria.

Mr Iheanacho, who drew the court’s attention to the State House Clinic’s medical report, said Mr Gambaryan’s ill health was not as bad as it was being painted.

He said the report showed that the defendant was dissatisfied with the medical attention offered and rejected it.

The lawyer objected to the bail plea and urged the court to dismiss the fresh application.

He explained that the National Security Adviser (NSA), Nuhu Ribadu, wrote to the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS) management requesting Mr Gambaryan’s medical records.

He said that the NSA received a response from the NCoS on 28 August, with the attached report of Nizamiye Hospital, among others.

According to him, the report indicated that Mr Gambaryan had been receiving adequate medical care from the NCoS and had been taken to several hospitals, including the State House Clinic.

Mr Iheanacho insisted that NCoS could take Mr Gambaryan to any hospital in Nigeria, adding that surgeons could not force surgery on the defendant without his consent.

He said Mr Gambaryan “cannot suddenly become sick,” as is allegedly commonplace with some suspects facing trial.

(NAN)