Families of the two Biannce officials detained in Nigeria have revealed their identities.
Nadeem Anjarwalla, 37, and Tigran Gambaryan, 39, have been in Nigerian detention since last month when they flew into Nigeria to discuss with the country’s investigators as authorities began an intense scrutiny of cryptocurrency exchanges.
Gambaryan currently heads Binance’s financial-crime compliance and investigations team. He was a federal agent with the United State’s Internal Revenue Service (IRS) before joining Binance in 2021.
Anjarwalla is the crypto giant’s regional manager for Africa.
Gambaryan, a US citizen, and Anjarwalla, a British Kenyan, flew into Abuja, the Nigerian capital city, on February 25.
According to their families, the two met with Nigerian officials to discuss. The meeting was at the request of the Nigerian government.
They initially had two hours of meeting. Another unscheduled meeting was requested by the Nigerian government. The second meeting, according to the families of Gambaryan and Anjarwalla, was hostile
At the end of that meeting, they were escorted back to their hotels, told to pack their bags and were then taken to a guarded house.
They have been detained since then.
Their families said the two Binance officials have not been informed of the reasons they were being detained and stripped of their passports.
Binance is in touch and has been offering support as necessary, the families said.
‘Sabotage’
Nigerian officials have zeroed in on Binance as the country looks to rein in the sliding value of the Nigerian currency.
Nigeria’s central bank governor, Olayemi Cardoso, suggested at the end of February that illicit financial flows through cryptocurrency exchanges were hurting the economy.
“Certain practices go on that indicate illicit flows going through a number of these entities,” Cardoso said.
“In the case of Binance, in the last one year alone, $26 billion has passed through Binance Nigeria from sources and users who we cannot adequately identify.”
The crypto giant denied any wrongdoing and insisted that it would cooperate with the Nigerian authorities.
It has since discontinued all its Naira-based services.
“This affects NGN services only, you can continue to make use of services and products for other available cryptocurrencies,” Binance said in the email to its Nigerian users.
Bayo Onanuga, a media adviser to Nigerian President Bola Tinubu, accused Binance of sabotaging the country’s economy by influencing exchange rates.
“That is why the government moved against Binance,” Onanuga told a local broadcaster in February.
“Some people sit down using the cyberspace to dictate even our exchange rate, hijacking the role of the CBN (Central Bank of Nigeria).”
Families impacted
Gambaryan and Anjarwalla’s lawyers received a court order on February 28, authorising their detention for 14 days. That order has expired. Still, the families said there are no indications they will be released.
Anjarwalla, a Muslim, began Ramadan fasting on Monday and his colleague, though not a Muslim, joined him in solidarity.
Anjarwalla’s wife, Elahe, described the “middle management” Binance employee as a “loving husband and father, he is my best friend.” She said his absence has made the beginning of the Ramadan fast more harrowing for the family.
“Ramadan has just started and as a Muslim, it is Nadeem’s favourite time of the year,” Elahe said.
“Usually he welcomes friends and family to our home for Iftar almost daily. This year his Ramadan has started very differently and my heart breaks thinking about him unable to break his fast with all of us.”
For Gambaryan’s wife, Yuki, the detention is heartbreaking and “difficult”. She said their two children miss their father every day.
“They ask me every day when their father will be coming home, yet I cannot give them any answer,” Yuki said.
“Every time our youngest hears a car drive by our house, he rushes to the window to see if it’s his father finally coming home. It always ends with his sigh of disappointment.”(Guardian)
