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There was mild drama at a Federal High Court in Abuja on Friday as the detained Binance Holdings Limited executive, Tigran Gambaryan, was conspicuously absent for his trial.<\/p>\n

Justice Emeka Nwite had, on Oct. 11, fixed today for the continuation of the trial in the alleged money laundering charge preferred against Binance Ltd and its country representative, Gambaryan, by the EFCC.<\/p>\n

The development followed the rejection of Gambaryan\u2019s second bail application by Justice Nwite.<\/p>\n

However, NAN reports that when the matter was called on Friday, all the counsel to the parties in the case were in court except the second defendant, Gambaryan.<\/p>\n

The judge then asked Gambaryan\u2019s lawyer, Mark Mordi, SAN, about the whereabouts of his client.<\/p>\n

Mordi said he did not know why his client was not in court. Also, the EFCC\u2019s lawyer, Ekele Iheanacho, SAN, said he was surprised Gambaryan was not in court.<\/p>\n

Iheanacho therefore sought a stand-down to enable them to inquire from the management of the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS) on what went wrong.<\/p>\n

Counsel to Binance, Tonye Krukrubo, SAN, equally expressed worry over the absence of Gambaryan in court.<\/p>\n

He said the EFCC should be able to tell why he was not in court.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is in their custody. It is funny they are saying they do not know his whereabouts,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWas he not taken to the correctional centre on the day the matter was adjourned?\u201d the judge asked. Justice Nwite then asked the NCoS officer who was in court why Gambaryan was not produced for his trial.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, my lord, he was taken to our custody,\u201d the officer said in open court.<\/p>\n

\u201cDid you not know his whereabouts?\u201d Justice Nwite further asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is in our custody,\u201d the officer insisted.<\/p>\n

The judge, who asked him who was in charge of the Kuje Correctional Centre, directed the officer to put a telephone call to him.<\/p>\n

\u201cCall him and tell him the court is worried about his whereabouts,\u201d the judge added.<\/p>\n

Justice Nwite then stood down the matter.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, when the court reconvened, Justice Nwite asked the NCoS officer about his findings.<\/p>\n

The officer said he had been able to get in touch with his boss. \u201cI was told that he (Gambaryan) is very sick and that is why he could not be produced in court,\u201d he responded.<\/p>\n

Mordi, who appeared for Gambaryan, prayed the court for an adjournment.<\/p>\n

\u201cI urge for a date next week if only to report on the second defendant\u2019s state of health.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis will allow parties to take necessary steps to ensure that the defendant is given the medical care required,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Iheanacho did not oppose Mordi\u2019s oral application.<\/p>\n

The lawyer said though he would have wanted the matter to proceed since their witness was in court, \u201cwe are also concerned about the defendant\u2019s health status.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are very concerned about the issues of health.\u201d<\/p>\n

The judge subsequently adjourned the matter until Oct. 25 for a report about Gambaryan\u2019s health.<\/p>\n

Drama in court over location of detained Binance executive, Gambaryan<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There was mild drama at a Federal High Court in Abuja on Friday as the detained Binance Holdings Limited executive,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":54495,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15394,15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-54494","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gambaryan","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n