The Nigerian government has dropped all charges against Tigran Gambaryan, an executive at Binance Holdings, who has been on trial for money laundering to the tune of $34.4million since April.
A lawyer representing Nigeria’s anti-corruption agency, the EFCC, which is prosecuting the case, announced the withdrawal of the charges at the Federal High Court in Abuja.
The hearing, comes two days earlier than the 25 October earlier scheduled as the return date by the trial judge, Emeka Nwite, last Friday.
Announcing the withdrawal of the charges, the lawyer said Mr Gambaryan, a United States citizen, was merely an employee of Binance, whose activities he was being prosecuted for.
Mark Mordi, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria representing Mr Gambaryan, agreed with the prosecution, noting that his client was not involved in the company’s broader financial decisions.
This eventual outcome of the trial is most likely the climax of alleged diplomatic lobbying by the U.S. government to secure Gambaryan’s release. Gambaryan has been attending trial from the Kuje Correctional Centre in Abuja where his legal team had expressed concerns about very poor conditions.
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