The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency trading platform, Richard Teng, has labelled the detention of the company’s executives in Nigeria as a “dangerous precedent” for companies globally.
Teng, who spoke to Reuters on Tuesday, said it was time to break silence on the ongoing detention of Tigran Gambaryan, a U.S. citizen and Binance head of financial crime compliance.
Binance and two of its executives, Gambaryan and Nadeem Anjarwalla, are facing individual trials on charges of tax evasion and money laundering, which the firm is challenging.
Anjarwalla escaped a lawful custody, and “fled Nigeria using a smuggled passport”, the office of Nigeria’s National Security Adviser said in a statement.
On his part, Binance CEO said the executives first held meetings with Nigerian authorities in the country in January 2024.
He said on February 26, the Nigerian authorities at a follow-up meeting said the issues involving Binance were of national security and demanded that the exchange delist the naira currency from its platform and provide “granular-level” details on all Nigerian users.
“To invite a company’s mid-level employees for collaborative policy meetings, only to detain them, has set a dangerous new precedent for all companies worldwide,” Teng said, in his strongest comments yet since the case started in February.
Teng stated that Gambaryan had been detained in Nigeria for over two months “on dubious grounds.”
In early March, Binance declared that it was halting all transactions and trading in naira.
“Our hope when we took this drastic step was that our colleagues would be released and Binance could continue to work with the Nigerian government to resolve any further concerns. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen,” said Teng.
He stated that Gambaryan should be permitted to return home while Binance and Nigerian authorities settle any disputes.
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Backstory
On February 28, Nairametrics reported that Nigeria officials detained two senior Binance executives: Nadeem Anjarwalla, a 37-year-old British-Kenyan who serves as the regional manager for Africa, and Tigran Gambaryan, a 39-year-old American in charge of financial crime compliance at Binance.
The executives visited Nigeria in response to the country’s recent crackdown on various cryptocurrency trading platforms.
During their stay, they were apprehended by the Office of the National Security Adviser and their passports were confiscated.
In response to the detention of its executives, Binance discontinued the trading of the naira against bitcoin and tether cryptocurrencies on its exchange.
Escape from lawful custody
Meanwhile, on March 24, a statement from the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) confirmed that one of the executives, Anjarwalla subsequently escaped from lawful custody.
The Briton, who also has Kenyan citizenship, is believed to have flown out of Abuja using a Middle East airliner.
It remains unclear how Mr Anjarwalla got on an international flight despite his British passport, with which he entered Nigeria, remaining in the custody of the Nigerian authorities.
However, the Federal Government said it is discussing with Interpol to secure an international arrest warrant for Anjarwalla and extradite him to Nigeria.
FIRS charge against Binance
Currently, the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) in Abuja filed legal proceedings against the cryptocurrency exchange, Binance, alleging four instances of tax evasion.
The allegation against Binance involves the non-remittance of Value Added Tax (VAT), Company Income tax (CIT), non-compliance with tax return filing obligations, and facilitating tax evasion for its users.
Furthermore, in the lawsuit, the Federal Government charged Binance with not registering for tax purposes with the FIRS and violating the country’s tax laws.
- According to the FIRS, “One of the counts in the lawsuit pertains to Binance’s alleged failure to collect and remit various categories of taxes to the federation as stipulated by Section 40 of the FIRS Establishment Act 2007 as amended.”
Case adjournment till May 17
So far, the Federal High Court adjourned the case against Binance and its two executives to May 17.
- The case borders on money laundering and Tax evasion.
- Other concerns by the government include allegations of manipulation of the local currency by peer-to-peer traders on the platform.
- All parties involved have pleaded not guilty to any of the charges.
- Binance and its team of executives are also facing a four-count charge of tax evasion in a separate trial that will resume on May 17.
