By Abiola Olawale
A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has ordered a bench warrant for the arrest of Abraham Ehizojie, a medical doctor at the health facility of Kuje Correctional Centre, over failure to produce the medical report of Binance executive, Tygran Gambaryan.
The Presiding Judge, Justice Emeka Nwite hinged the order on the failure of Ehizojie to appear before the court to tender the medical report of Gambaryan.
During Tuesday’s proceedings, Gambaryan’s lawyer, Mark Mordi disclosed that the order given to Ehizojie has not been obeyed.
When queried about the issue by Nwite, a prison official who brought Gambaryan to court stated that he delivered the instruction to the doctor last Tuesday.
“He is not here and I expected him to be here,” the prison official added.
Wading into the development, EFCC counsel Ekene Iheanacho informed the judge that he thought the doctor would be present in court.
Gambaryan’s counsel thereafter urged the court to issue a bench warrant against the doctor and that his client be taken to a hospital so that a diagnosis could be done to determine the state of his health.
“My client came in here in a wheelchair. He has been complaining of back pain. We need to be careful of the life in our hands,” he said.
Justice Nwite, during court proceedings, recalled that he had ordered the Nigerian Correctional Service doctor to produce the medical reports of the Tigran Gambaryan.
Nwite in his ruling lamented that government institutions treated his instructions with levity.
“I hereby make an order of bench warrant on the medical doctor at the Kuje Correctional Service, Abraham to appear before this court”, he added.
Nwite further directed that Gambaryan be taken to the Nizamiye hospital for a medical checkup for 24 hours, at any time of his choice but under full security.
The case was then adjourned to October 11, 2024, for continuation of trial.
The New Diplomat recalls that on February 28, Nigerian officials detained two senior Binance executives: Nadeem Anjarwalla, a 37-year-old British-Kenyan who serves as the regional manager for Africa, and Tigran Gambaryan, a 39-year-old American in charge of financial crime compliance at Binance.
The executives visited Nigeria in response to the country’s recent crackdown on various cryptocurrency trading platforms During their stay, they were apprehended by the ONSA, and their passports were confiscated.
However, on March 24, a statement from ONSA confirmed that one of the executives, Anjarwalla escaped from lawful custody.
Subsequently, the EFCC filed five-count charges bordering on alleged tax evasion, money laundering, and others against the cryptocurrency giant and two of its executives, Anjarwalla and Gambaryan.
