Binance Executives Should Not Be In ONSA Custody – Ex-DSS Director

A former Assistant Director of the Department of State Services (DSS), Dennis Amachree, has said the two executives of the cryptocurrency exchange platform, Binance, should have been transferred to the custody of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

Amachree said the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) is not a security agency with no detention facility and should have transferred the detainees to the EFCC or DSS.

Recall that Nadeem Anjarwalla, one of the two Binance executives detained in Nigeria for alleged tax evasion and other offences, escaped from lawful custody last week Friday.

Anjarwalla escaped from the Abuja guest house, where he and his colleague, Tigran Gambaryan, were detained after guards on duty led him to a nearby mosque for prayers in the spirit of the ongoing Ramadan fast.

The 38-year-old Briton, who also has Kenyan citizenship, is believed to have flown out of Abuja using a Middle East airliner.

Speaking in an interview on Channels Television on Monday, Amachree said the two Binance officials should have been placed on a watchlist with the Nigeria Immigration Service, and their photos and names should have been flagged at all airports across the country.

He said, “If the man has been flagged as a threat or a suspected person, he should have been watchlisted.

“I don’t know whether the NSA has a detention facility. The NSA is an advisory body to the President. So, if he (NSA Nuhu Ribadu) felt that the suspects should be remanded, he should have sent him to the EFCC or the DSS to keep until the date of the court but to keep him in a guest house where he has access to telephone?

“For them now to allow him to go and pray? I think there are a lot of loopholes and lapses there. We have held heads of state in detention and they prayed where to live and eat and sleep. So, I don’t see why this particular guy will be allowed to go to the nearest mosque to pray and disappear.”

Speaking further, the former DSS director said Anjarwalla’s escape resulted from a compromise by some security agents placed to guard the Binance officials.

He added: “There is a compromise. The fleeing suspect must have rubbed hands with some conniving security agents.

“I’m happy they’ve arrested some of them. Let them interrogate them and tell us how much he gave them.”