Ayuba Sanusi
JUSTICE Emeka Nwite of a Federal High Court sitting in Maitama, Abuja earlier today Thursday, 4 April 2024 adjourned the arraignment of Binance Holdings Limited to 8 April 2024 for a ruling on the service of charges on the company.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is prosecuting Binance alongside Tigran Gambaryan and Nadeem Anjarwalla on five–-count charges bordering on tax evasion, currency speculation and money laundering to the tune of Thirty-Four Million, Four Hundred Thousand United States Dollars ($34,400,000.00).
At today’s sitting, defence counsel, Mark Mordi (SAN) objected to the arraignment of the second defendant without the prosecution properly serving the charges on the first defendant.
He insisted that his client was not an agent, director or representative of the company in the country, and as such could not be served on behalf of the first defendant.
“My Lord, it is a joint charge, the prosecution is supposed to have served the first defendant the charge and having not accomplished service to the first defendant, I don’t see how the arraignment can go on my Lord.
“He’s not a director, not a partner, and not even the secretary. He does not reside in Nigeria to qualify as an agent within jurisdiction, he has no physical footprint here, so he’s not an agent here. There’s no proof of service in the court’s file. So the prosecution cannot assume that he has been served through my client”, he said.
But counsel to the EFCC, Ekele Iheanacho, disagreed with him, noting that the second respondent is a representative of the first defendant in the country, adding that the charge was served on him on behalf of the company.
“My Lord, Section 123 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act states that on effecting service; ‘the person effecting service of a summons shall effect it by delivering it on (a) an individual, to him personally; or (b) a firm or corporation; (i) to one of the partners, (ii) to a director, (iii) to the secretary, (iv) to the chief agent within the jurisdiction, (v) by leaving it at the principal place of business in Nigeria of the firm or corporation, or (vi) to anyone having, at the time of service, control of the business or the firm.
“So, my Lord, the law allows that the service can be effected to the chief agent within the jurisdiction, and in this case, the second defendant is the only physical agent within the jurisdiction”, he said.
Arguing further, he pointed out that “the law does not command an impossibility. A party that has no physical presence in Nigeria but has a physical agent in Nigeria can properly be served through that agent. He is the only physical agent we have, hence we served him on behalf of the first defendant though he refused the service, but it is in our proof of evidence that we served him”.
Iheanacho stressed that “Section 124 of the ACJA refers to obtaining service for an individual and not for a corporation. “So my Lord, the service of the first defendant which he refused to accept, is a proper service.
“And again my Lord, the counsel to the second defendant cannot be speaking on behalf of the first defendant, so all the information from him is to be disregarded because they lack merit”.
Iheanacho furthermore said it was not the position of the counsel to the second defendant to argue for the first defendant. He therefore urged the court to enter a plea for the first defendant and continue with the proceedings.
After listening to all the submissions of the counsel, Justice Nwite adjourned the ruling till 8 April 2024.
Eighteen-Eleven Media