The authorities in Nigeria have charged Binance and its two detained executives with four counts of tax evasion, multiple local media houses reported today (Monday). The charges came after reports of the escape of one of the detained executives.
Binance Is on Trial
Nigeria’s Federal Inland Revenue Services has already filed the tax evasion charges at the Federal High Court in Abuja. Binance is the primary accused, while its two detained executives, Tigram Gambaryan and Nadeem Anjarwalla, are the second and third defendants. Anjarwalla, Binance’s African Regional Manager, also reportedly escaped custody.
The charges against the crypto exchange and its executives include non-payment of value-added tax, income tax, and failure to file tax returns. The exchange has been blamed for aiding Nigerians in evading tax through its platform.
“Any company that transacts business in excess of N25 million annually is deemed by the Finance Act to be present in Nigeria. According to this rule, Binance falls into that category,” Dare Adekanmbi, the Media Aide to the Chairman at FIRS, said in a statement.
“The company broker Nigerian laws could be investigated and taken to court for this infraction.”
The Great Escape
Nigeria’s sudden crackdown on Binance came in late February when the country’s authorities detained two executives of the crypto exchange platform. A report by the BBC revealed that the Nigerian authority is demanding $10 billion from the cryptocurrency exchange as retribution, but the country’s officials said that amount is only under consideration, and no such demands were made.
Meanwhile, the Premium Times reported that one of the detained executives escaped the Nigerian authorities' custody on Friday and has already flown out of Abuja using a Middle East airliner.
The escaped detainee, Anjarwalla, is a citizen of the United Kingdom and Kenya. He is suspected to have used his Kenyan passport to flee the country.
Earlier, a Nigerian federal court ordered Binance to disclose the data or information of all local customers on its platform to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission. The order would enable Nigeria’s investigative agency to unravel the alleged money laundering and terrorism financing with cryptocurrencies using Binance.
