The Federal Excessive Court docket, Abuja, ordered on Tuesday the arrest of an Abuja jail physician accused of failing to supply the medical report on a detained govt of Binance Holdings Ltd, Tigran Gambaryan.
Mr Gambaryan, a United States citizen, has been held on the Kuje Correctional Centre in Abuja since his arraignment on cash laundering costs in April.
The trial courtroom issued a bench warrant for the arrest of Abraham Ehizojie, a physician on the jail clinic, after he did not obey the courtroom’s summons to seem in courtroom with the defendant’s medical report on Tuesday.
The choose, Emeka Nwite, gave the order prompted by an utility by Mr Gambaryan’s lawyer, Mark Mordi, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN).
The Information Company of Nigeria (NAN) stories that the defendant, seated in a wheelchair, was whisked into the courtroom on a flooring within the high-rise courtroom advanced earlier on Tuesday.
He and Binance, a cryptocurrency firm, face 5 cash laundering costs earlier than the courtroom. Binance is going through tax evasion costs in a separate case earlier than one other choose.
The highest govt’s lawyer, Mr Mordi, had urged the courtroom at earlier proceedings to order the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS), the physique overseeing all Nigerian prisons, to launch the medical report on Mr Gambaryan amid mounting considerations of his authorized workforce and household about his sick well being.
Mr Mordi additionally urged the courtroom to summon Mr Ehizojie, the jail’s physician, to clarify why he allegedly refused to make Mr Gambaryan’s medical report obtainable regardless of an earlier courtroom order.
NAN stories that earlier than making the applying, on 23 Could, Mr Gambaryan collapsed within the open courtroom, a improvement his attorneys attributed to his failing well being.
Just a few days later, on 27 Could, the defence regulation agency Aluko & Oyebode raised the alarm that the cryptocurrency agency’s govt may die in Kuje Correctional Centre on account of a worsening state of well being.
In June, Mr Gambaryan’s spouse equally raised considerations over his well being. She known as on america authorities to stress the Nigerian authorities to withdraw the costs in opposition to him and launch him.
Delivering a ruling on the defence lawyer’s utility on 5 July, the choose ordered the administration of the NCoS to launch the medical report on Mr Gambaryan on or earlier than 16 July (at the moment).
Construct-up to order for physician’s arrest
At Tuesday’s listening to, Mr Mordi advised the choose that the Kuje jail’s physician had but to adjust to the courtroom order directing him to supply Mr Gambaryan’s medical report.
The choose then requested a jail official who introduced Mr Gambaryan to courtroom concerning the improvement.
The jail official stated he obtained the courtroom order and delivered it to the physician on 9 July (final Tuesday).
“He’s not right here, and I anticipated him to be right here,” he added.
The EFCC’s counsel, Ekene Iheanacho, advised the choose that he anticipated the physician to be in courtroom.
Mr Mordi then urged the courtroom to concern a bench warrant for the arrest of the medical physician of the correctional centre.
The lawyer additionally requested the courtroom to order a right away hospital remand for his shopper for an intensive medical examination of him to know his precise state of well being.
“My shopper got here in right here in a wheelchair. He has been complaining of again ache.
“We must be cautious of the life in our palms,” Mr Mordi stated.
The prosecution lawyer, Mr Iheanacho, agreed that the defendant needs to be given satisfactory therapy however opposed the decision to switch Mr Gambaryan to a hospital for medical therapy.
After listening to the attorneys’ submissions, Mr Nwite expressed disappointment {that a} authorities establishment might deal with a courtroom order with levity.
“I hereby make an order of bench warrant on the medical physician on the Kuje Correctional Service to seem earlier than this courtroom,” he stated.
He additionally ordered that Mr Gambaryan be taken to the Nizamiye Hospital for medical care for twenty-four hours, at any time of his alternative, however underneath full safety surveillance.
The choose set 11 and 18 October for additional listening to.
Earlier, the Head, Fee Coverage and Regulation Division on the Central Financial institution of Nigeria (CBN), Olubukola Akinwunmi, testified as a prosecution witness.
Binance’s lawyer, Babatunde Fagbohunlu, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), cross-examined him. Binance is the primary defendant, whereas Mr Gambaryan is the second defendant.
Costs and bail
Mr Gambaryan and Binance are going through 5 counts of cash laundering offences involving $35.4 million.
In Could, the courtroom denied the Binance govt’s bail utility, adjudging him to be a flight danger.
The courtroom’s choice happened two months after Mr Gambaryan’s colleague, Nadeem Anjarwalla, reportedly escaped from a pre-trial custody in Abuja in March.
(NAN)
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