The International Criminal Police Organization for Africa (INTERPOL Africa) has confirmed the completion of extradition paperwork for Binance Holdings Limited executive Nadeem Anjarwalla, who fled the jurisdiction.
INTERPOL Africa’s Vice-President, Garba Umar, revealed this information during an appearance on the April 30 edition of Sunrise Daily program on local news agency Channels Television.
In the interview, Umar added that the organization is actively working with the governments of different countries by serving a red notice against Anjarwalla and presenting necessary treaties, a Memorandum of Understanding, and other documentation to facilitate his extradition to Nigeria for trial.
The Interpol official did not confirm that Anjarwalla is currently held in Kenya but noted that the fleeing crypto executive was last seen there. Umar said:
“I’m not aware but what I can tell you is that the last destination I know on my record of this guy when he fled (Nigeria) was Kenya. That I can confirm to you.”
Umar added that Interpol had contacted all countries where Anjarwalla was believed to have transited, and “we got some certain information which is not possible to share on this platform.”
Anjarwalla, who was detained with his colleague Tigran Gambaryan on charges of money laundering and tax evasion, escaped custody under the National Security Adviser on March 22 and fled to Kenya.
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Anjarwalla reportedly flew out of Abuja on a Middle East airline. However, it is unclear how he managed to board the international flight, as his United Kingdom passport, with which he entered Nigeria, remains in the custody of the Nigerian authorities.
While Anjarwalla remained out of the country, Gambaryan pleaded not guilty to the charges.
After several weeks in detention, his wife and others are calling for his release. Gambaryan’s wife launched a petition to bring him back to the United States, which had 4,161 signatures at the time of publication. Gambaryan's next bail hearing is on May 17.
On March 5, Binance announced that it intended to cease all naira transactions, effectively exiting the market. Binance also mentioned that Binance’s peer-to-peer platform delisted all naira trading pairs in late February.
On Feb. 27, the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria argued that crypto exchanges in Nigeria were handling illicit transactions and pointed to “suspicious flows” of funds at Binance.
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