By Ken Chiwendu
Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court in Abuja on Monday ordered the remand of Tigran Gambaryan ,an executive of Binance Holdings in Kuje Correctional centre in Abuja .
The court ordered Gambaryan’s remand in prison pending the hearing of his bail application, expected to come up on 18 April,2024.
Justice Nwite issued the remand order after the defendant’s arraignment on five counts- charge of money laundering .
In issuing the order, the judge agreed with the argument of the prosecution that the appropriate place of remand of a defendant after arraignment is the correctional centre.
Gambaryan’s journey to prison began when the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on 28 March, charged him alongside his colleague , Nadeem Anjarwalla who escaped from the custody of the office of the National Security Adviser leaving only Gambaryan to appear before the court on Monday
Notwithstanding his escape, the EFCC wrote in the charges that Mr Anjarwalla, who reportedly escaped from lawful custody in Abuja last month, was on the run.
Gambaryan however pleaded not guilty to the five counts- charges preferred against him by the EFCC .
In the five counts, EFCC accused the defendants of committing money laundering offences involving $35.4 million.
On Monday, Mr Gambaryan’s lawyer, Mr Mark Mordi SAN appealed to the judge to either hear his client’s bail application on Thursday or order his remand in the custody of the prosecuting agency, the EFCC.
He told the court that the defendant had been in custody for 40 days arguing ” this is a foreign national. I urge the court to order that he be detained by the EFCC.
But the EFCC ‘s lawyer,Ekele Iheanacho resisted the plea contenting that the best place for Gambaryan was the Kuje correctional centre.
In agreement with Iheanacho, Justice Nwite ruled that the defendant should be remanded in prison
He held that there have been Nigerians who had been convicted in the U. S and were detained in their prisons
Subsequently, the judge ordered the remand of Gambaryan in Kuje prison until 18 April for hearing of the defendant’s bail application.
