Due to his deteriorating health, two United States legislators have requested the US embassy in Nigeria to press for the release of Tigran Gambaryan, the executive of Binance who is currently imprisoned, on humanitarian grounds.

Gambaryan, the executive director of Binance, who oversees financial crimes compliance for Binance, has been detained since February on suspicion of money laundering.

Last Monday, the tax evasion accusations against him and the other officer, who escaped detention in Nigeria in March, were withdrawn.

During a visit to the West African nation on Thursday, Republican French Hill of the US House of Representatives and Democrat Chrissy Houlahan paid Gambaryan a visit at the Kuje prison in Abuja.

An Abuja court decided last month that Gambaryan, who is representing Binance, may go to trial in the case about tax evasion. Binance CEO Richard Teng had claimed that Nigeria was creating a dangerous precedent when its executives were invited to the nation and later jailed as part of an anti-crypto campaign. The business is fighting the proceedings because it allegedly launders money and avoids taxes.

“We have asked our embassy to advocate for a humanitarian release of Tigran because of the horrible conditions of the prison, his innocence and his health,” Hill said in a video he posted on social media site X, alongside Houlahan.

During the jail visit, according to Houlahan, they discovered that Gambaryan was living in substandard conditions and that “his health is not very good and he was also clearly under a lot of stress.” Gambaryan was previously reported by Binance to have pneumonia and malaria.

The money laundering trial for Gambaryan, who is accused of stealing, was postponed until July 1st. Gambaryan appeared in court on Friday.

Nigeria has laid the blame for its currency problems on Binance. The country’s currency sank to a record low as a result of persistent dollar shortages, and cryptocurrency websites became the preferred means of trading the naira.

A corporate official announced on Thursday that Tsingshan Holding Group, a $1 billion steel mill in central Zimbabwe, is now producing nickel, the largest nickel producer in China.

During a factory tour, project director Wilfred Motsi informed reporters that Tsingshan’s Dinson Iron and Steel Company will produce 600,000 metric tons of carbon steel annually during the first phase of operations.

“We have started to produce pig iron, which is a raw material used for the production of steel. By July, that’s when we will start to produce the actual carbon steel,” Motsi said.
He did not say how long the first phase would last.

Tsingshan, a prominent global producer of nickel, has made noteworthy investments in Zimbabwe throughout the past few years. In addition to the steel mill, Tsingshan operates enterprises in southern Africa that mine lithium, ferrochrome, and coking coal.

In Dinson, the business has constructed a 50-megawatt thermal power plant. To meet 20% of its electricity needs, the steel plant will use the gas produced by its furnace to generate additional power.

To lessen the negative effects of Zimbabwe’s electricity shortages on its operations, the company also intends to construct a solar power facility.

The total estimated value of iron and steel imports from Zimbabwe in 2020 was $128 million. Compared to the previous year, when the products were imported to the tune of about 114 million U.S. dollars, this represented an increase in value.