The arraignment of Binance Holdings Limited and two of its executives; Tigran Gambaryan and Nadeem Anjarwalla, Thursday, stalled over non-service of charge by the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS).
FIRS is prosecuting the defendants on a four-count charge bordering on alleged tax evasion.
Similarly, the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) arraignment of the defendants on a five-count charge bordering on money laundering couldn’t be held because of the non-service of charge on the first defendant.
The EFCC, in the charge, dated and filed on March 28, the defendants are being accused of money laundering to the tune of $35,400,000.
When the matter was called for the defendants to take their plea before Justice Emeka Nwite of a Federal High Court, Abuja, only Gambaryan was represented by a lawyer.
The company and Anjarwalla, who recently escaped from lawful custody, were not represented by any lawyer.
However, Gambaryan’s lawyer, Chukwuka Ikwuazo, SAN, told the court that his client had not been served with the charge. Hence, his arraignment can not proceed.
In his response, counsel to
FIRS, Moses Ideho, though acknowledged that the agency had not served Gambaryan’s with the charge, he said all efforts to do so proved abortive because the defendant could not be reached at the EFCC’s detention.
Ideho then prayed the court to serve Gambaryan in the open court, and the judge directed that the charge be served on him in the dock.
He orally applied for a stand-down of the matter or an adjournment to enable Gambaryan to consult with his lawyer.
Ikwuazo did not object to an oral application for adjournment, and the matter was adjourned until April 19 for him to take his plea.
In the charge marked FHC/ABJ/CR/115/2024, dated and filed March 22 by the FIRS, the defendants were alleged to have committed the offence on or about Feb. 1.
Count one alleged that while involved in carrying and offering services to subscribers on their platform, known as Binance, failed to register with the FIRS, for the purpose of paying all relevant taxes administered by the service.
The offences are said to be punishable under Sections 8 and 29 of the VAT Act of 1993 (as Amended), Section 40 of the FIRS Establishment Act, 2007 (as amended) and under provisions of Section 94 of the Companies Income Tax Act (as amended) respectively.
Meanwhile, the EFCC, in the first count, claimed that the defendants were charged with operating a specialised business of another financial institution in Abuja without a valid license between January 2023 and January 2024.
The offence is alleged to violate Sections 57(1) and (2) of the Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act, 2020, and is punishable under Section 57(5) of the same Act.
