According to a recent report, a Nigerian court has authorized the detention of Tigran Gambaryan, the chief executive officer of Binance in a detention centre renowned for criminal activities where he has been processed for allegedly laundering money.
Gambaryan, who had been in custody for six weeks, was to make an appearance on the 8th of April where he was charged with covering up a $35.4 million revenue for an unlawful activity in Nigeria from Binance and another colleague.
Although he gave a not-guilty plea, the judge on the other hand said he must attend remand at the Nigeria Kuje prison until the hearing bail set for April 18. First, the defense team wanted to maintain Gambaryan as the Binance representative and refused the request of EFCC (Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission) to take Gambaryan in custody.
The judge preferred to dress Gambaryan in the Nigerian correctional facility wore for the visit to the country “on behalf of Binance” as evidence for the case. By way of this disposition, it raises questions about the residence of Gambaryan considering the background of Kuje prison infamous for the gory conditions revealed by Amnesty International in the year 2007.
The facility, which had only 560 inmates’ capacity, held nearly 1,000 inmates before another attack took place in July 2022, giving an idea about the problem of overcrowding and poor hygiene.
Gambaryan is now on the verge of facing such a reality as the hearing is scheduled, and he has to stay in prison until the bail hearing is over. If he is found not guilty the problem will be alleviated, but if he is convicted the situation would further deteriorate, revealing larger issues related to the Nigerian prison system and how the inmates are treated.
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