Africa

Nigeria sets dangerous precedent by detaining Binance executives - CEO

Richard Teng, head of the Middle East and North Africa for crypto firm Binance, gestures as he speaks during an interview with Reuters in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, on March 30, 2022. (Photo: Abdel Hadi Ramahi/Reuters)

By Reuters | Tuesday, May 7, 2024

Binance, the world's largest crypto exchange, and two of its executives face separate trials on tax evasion and money laundering, which the company is challenging.

The CEO of cryptocurrency exchange Binance accused Nigeria on Tuesday of setting a dangerous precedent after its executives were invited to the African country and then detained as part of a crackdown on crypto.

Binance, the world's largest crypto exchange, and two of its executives face separate trials on tax evasion and money laundering, which the company is challenging.

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Chief Executive Officer Richard Teng said in a statement it was time to speak out against the detention of Tigran Gambaryan, a US citizen and Binance head of financial crime compliance.

The other executive, Nadeem Anjarwalla, a British Kenyan who is a regional manager for Africa, fled Nigeria in March.

Tigran Gambaryan, an executive of the Binance cryptocurrency exchange, waits to face prosecution for tax evasion and money laundering at the federal high court in Abuja, Nigeria, on April 4, 2024. (Photo: Abraham Achirga/Reuters)

Teng said Binance executives first held meetings with Nigerian authorities in the country in January.

At a follow-up meeting on February 26, the authorities 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, he said.

Gambaryan and Anjarwalla were subsequently detained.

"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.

Gambaryan was being held in Nigeria for more than two months "for spurious reasons," Teng said.

Binance announced in early March that it was stopping 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 Ten.

He said Gambaryan should be allowed to go home while Binance and Nigerian authorities resolve any issues.

"We will continue engagement with Nigeria's Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) on resolving potential historic tax liabilities," he said.