The detained Binance Holdings Limited’s executive, Tigran Gambaryan, was on Tuesday, brought into the Federal High Court in Abuja in a wheelchair.
Gambaryan, dressed in a black T-shirt and blue jeans, faces money laundering charges alongside the cryptocurrency company.
The federal government has been critical of Binance, blaming it for exacerbating the country’s currency woes by allowing illegal trades on its platform.
The government claims that this has contributed to chronic dollar shortages and a record low for the naira.
According to Daily Post, as the case was called, Gambaryan stood up from the wheelchair and walked slowly to the dock.
Ogechi Ujam, the lawyer for the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), informed the court that although the trial was set to continue, the commission’s lead counsel, Ekele Iheanacho, was absent. Ujam requested the court to delay proceedings until Iheanacho could conduct the trial.
Babatunde Fagbohunlu, SAN, representing Binance, and Mark Mordi, SAN, representing Gambaryan, did not oppose the request.
Justice Emeka Nwite agreed to adjourn the matter until 12 pm.
Earlier, on July 5, Justice Nwite had ordered the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS) to provide Gambaryan’s medical certificate by July 16.
This order followed an application by Mordi, who argued that the medical doctor at Kuje Correctional Centre had failed to produce Gambaryan’s medical report despite a previous court directive.
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