Federal Government has disclosed that the Binance executive, Nadeem Anjarwalla, who escaped custody in Nigeria, has been found in Kenya.
This was made known by a source in the presidency, who craved anonymity as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, the International Criminal Police, the Nigeria Police Force, and the Kenyan Police Service have engaged talks to quicken Anjarwalla’s extradition.
The source revealed, “We have found him. We know where he is. He is in Kenya, and we’re working with the authorities to bring him back to Nigeria,” the source said.
Another source who substantiate the first source said in a statement that, “All hands are on the deck. The government and all the security agencies are working hard in conjunction with the Kenyan authorities and INTERPOL, to ensure his return to Nigeria to face the charges brought against him.”
The EFCC chairman, Ola Olukuyede, last month, in a statement, stressed that the commission is collaborating with INTERPOL, the US, UK, Northern Ireland and Kenyan authorities to extradite Anjarwalla, who has been on the run.
The commission had instituted five-count charges bordering on tax evasion, currency speculation and money laundering against Binance Holdings Limited, Tigran Gambaryan and Anjarwalla, the firm’s executives.
EFCC arraigned Binance and the two executives on Thursday, April 4, 2024.
Anjarwalla escaped from custody on March 22 and has been at large since then.
Meanwhile, the government confirmed that EFCC had fully taken over the case of Binance from the Office of the National Security Adviser.
For months, the government sustained its crackdown on Binance over its role in manipulating the country’s Foreign exchange market.
During the 293rd meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee, in February, the Central Bank of Nigeria Governor, Olayemi Cardoso, had said that more than $26 billion had been funnelled through Binance without a trace.
