*Supports Nigeria’s quest for UN Security Council seat
American President Joe Biden on Tuesday telephoned President Bola Tinubu to thank him an the Nigerian government for stopping the criminal prosecution of Binance executives for cryptocurrency money laundering charges.
Tigran Gambaryan, a US citizen, was arrested on a business trip to Nigeria in February and later charged alongside his company, Binance, with laundering $35.4m, and tax evasion, which they denied.
This followed the escape from custody of his colleague Nadeem Anjarwalla, a British-Kenyan dual national who was Binance’s Africa regional manager, and had been arrested in Nigeria alongside Gambaryan.
But the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) of Nigeria last week announced in court in Abuja that it had withdrawn the money laundering charges against Tigran Gambaryan to allow him to get medical treatment outside the country.
Briefing State House correspondents in Abuja, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Tuggar, said an appreciative Biden called Tinubu at 4pm and both leaders spoke for about 30 minutes covering other issues of mutual interest to both countries.
The Minister said Biden expressed support for Nigeria’ quest to get a permanent seat status on the United Nations Security Council, especially with the country’s leadership roles in Africa and peace-keeping efforts and sacrifices across the globe.
According to Tuggar, “the call was about the collaboration between the two countries with regards to law enforcement and law enforcement agencies as well as the release of one of the suspects of the crypto currency exchange company that you are all aware of.
“In response, President Tinubu also thanked him and the US for the partnership and collaboration in numerous areas, and also discussed the issue of collaboration with regards to security in Africa, in particular West Africa.
“President Biden equally assured that this is a partnership that will continue and he stated, as a matter of fact, not more than not just once, but at least twice, that the future of the world resides in Africa, which is why it was important for this partnership to continue.
“The two leaders also discussed the issue of the permanent seats in the United Nations Security Council, and President Biden once again assured that the United States is committed to seeing Africa having two permanent seats and also reiterated that he does not see any reason why one of those seats should not belong to Nigeria, given its position in Africa, its stature and importance.”
