A Federal High Court in Abuja has dismissed the suit filed by Tigran Gambaryan, former Binance Head of Financial Crime Compliance in Nigeria, against the National Security Adviser (NSA) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over claims of unlawful detention in Nigeria.

Gambaryan had sued the NSA and EFCC over alleged unlawful and prolonged detention during his official visit to Nigeria with Binance in 2024. He alleged illegal and prolonged detention, claiming the government was using him “as leverage to continue making demands on Binance.” However, while delivering judgment on Thursday, presiding judge Mohammed Umar held that the suit amounted to an abuse of court process, ruling that the NSA acted within its statutory powers and that no court could restrain investigative agencies from carrying out their lawful duties.

They were formally dismissed with Umar stating that the court would not interfere with the prosecutorial powers of the Nigerian authorities under the guise of enforcing fundamental rights, especially where allegations of foreign exchange contravention and money laundering were being investigated.

The saga began in 2023 when the federal government accused Binance of being complicit in the depreciation of the naira. Gambaryan and Nadeem Anjarwalla, Binance’s Kenya-based regional manager for Africa at the time, visited Nigeria after the government consequently directed telecom companies to block the websites of several crypto exchanges, including Binance. However, on arriving in Abuja, they were arrested, with their passports seized. While Nadeem escaped detention a couple of days later, Gambaryan was held at the Kuje Correctional Centre in Abuja for over six months before his release in October 2024 due to his deteriorating health status and other diplomatic interventions.

Aside from filing a suit over unlawful detention, Gamba recently alleged that Nigerian lawmakers sought a 150-million-dollar crypto bribe to secure his release.