Former Director of the Department of State Services, DSS, Mike Ejiofor, has blamed the escape of Binance executive, Nadeem Anjarwalla, from custody on negligence and compromise.
Recall that the Federal Government has been investigating money laundering and terrorism financing transactions allegedly done on the Binance currency exchange platform.
To this end, Anjarwalla, who holds British and Kenyan nationalities and serves as Binance’s Africa regional manager, was being tried by the Nigerian government before he escaped while under a 14-day remand order issued by a court.
Ejiofor described the escape of Anjarwalla as a national embarrassment to Nigeria.
Featuring on Arise Television, the former DSS Deputy Director, questioned the decision of the National Security Adviser, NSA, to keep the suspect in custody.
According to Ejiofor, “Honestly, this is a national, if not international embarrassment for our own image as a country. It raises a lot of questions. Who was prosecuting the executives, EFCC of course and he should have been in the custody of the EFCC, so why the custody of the NSA?
“Does the NSA have facilities to keep suspects? A lot of questions really. So, I have come to the conclusion that it is either gross negligence on the part of the officers on duty or compromise.
“But, more likely, it is the issue of compromise. Somebody in custody ordinarily, shouldn’t have come in with lots of materials. You are given basic amenities in custody. So, how did they now have access to go to the mosque to go and pray? Somebody who is in custody? Where was he kept? A lot of questions have been left unanswered.
“Now the reason I said the issue of compromise is more likely is that, if he went to pray and absconded, the people on duty should have raised the alarm that we cannot find this man because he cannot just move out of custody, straight to the airport.
“So, the period with which he escaped and it was noticed, he must have gone to his house to pack his things and possibly have access to another passport that was not in the knowledge of the security agencies. So, compromise is more likely than negligence.”