Kenya Police Detain Binance Executive, Nadeem Anjarwalla Who Fled Nigeria, To Extradite Suspect

Nigeria is pushing to have the fugitive Binance executive, Anjarwalla, extradited to face trial on alleged $35 million money laundering and tax evasion charges.

The police in Kenya have arrested fleeing Binance executive, Nadeem Anjarwalla, as the International Criminal Police Organisation moves to extradite him to Nigeria.

Nigeria is pushing to have the fugitive Binance executive, Anjarwalla, extradited to face trial on alleged $35 million money laundering and tax evasion charges.

According to The PUNCH, Anjarwalla, who has been arrested in the East African country, where he fled will be extradited to Nigeria within the week.

SaharaReporters reported in March that Anjarwalla escaped from detention in Nigeria.

The Office of the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu had confirmed the escape of Anjarwalla from custody, saying the suspect flew out of the country with a smuggled passport.

He was tracked down in Kenya earlier this month by a team comprising operatives drawn from the International Criminal Police Organisation, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Nigeria Police Force, and the Kenya Police Service.

The regional manager for Binance in Africa, “fled Nigeria using a smuggled Kenyan passport,” the Office of the National Security Adviser, headed by Nuhu Ribadu, had said in a statement following his escape from custody.

Meanwhile, The PUNCH report that Anjarwalla has been detained by the police in Kenya, and would be likely extradited to Nigeria within the week.

It was further learnt that the arrest of the Binance executive was predicated upon the approval of an extradition request by INTERPOL, Nigeria, in conjunction with the EFCC.

A government source who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the press said, “Binance executive, Nadeem Anjarwalla has been arrested by the Kenya Police Service, and he would be extradited to Nigeria this week by INTERPOL.”

Another government source who was not authorised to speak said “he has been arrested in Kenya, and he’ll be extradited to Nigeria this week.”

TechCabal, citing a detective with the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), earlier revealed that the DCI received a request to extradite Nadeem Anjarwalla from Nigeria but had yet to act.

“You cannot just walk in and arrest him based on the request. It’s a process. Also, the Anjarwallas are influential and have the backing of some powerful people.”

The fleeing Binance executive is said to be the son of Atiq Anjarwalla, a senior partner at Anjarwalla & Khanna Advocates, East Africa’s largest commercial law firm.

Meanwhile, the detective had said the extradition process might encounter challenges. According to Kenya’s extradition laws, before Anjarwalla can be arrested, a Nigerian court must issue an arrest warrant, which will be forwarded to Nairobi’s attorney general. Nigeria can also request a red notice through Interpol, an international organisation that promotes global police cooperation and crime control.

Following the arrest, Kenyan police must obtain court consent, which could take months or years, the detective noted.

“Police agencies share information among themselves and through the Interpol. The collaboration can only go up to a certain level as allowed by the law. Effecting an Interpol red notice or a foreign arrest warrant is entirely different,” the DCI detective was cited to have said.

A Federal High Court in Abuja adjourned the tax evasion case involving Binance Holdings Limited, Tigran Gambaryan and Nadeem Anjarwalla earlier this month after remanding Gambaryan in Kuje Custodian Centre.

The duo were charged with four counts of tax evasion – failure to pay company income tax, nonpayment of value-added tax (VAT), noncompliance with tax return filing obligations, and complicity in assisting its users evade taxes via its platform.