Nigeria’s Federal Inland Revenue Service has filed new tax evasion charges against Binance, a global cryptocurrency exchange, for alleged non-payment of Value-Added Tax, failure to submit tax returns, and aiding customers in evading taxes. Two senior executives, Tigran Gambaryan and Nadeem Anjarwalla, were both charged and detained by Nigerian authorities. Reports have recently emerged that Anjarwalla escaped from custody on Friday, causing concern for the safety of the employees.
The families of the detained executives have expressed their distress over the situation, with Anjarwalla’s wife pleading for his return home in time for their son’s first birthday. Gambaryan’s wife also expressed her concerns about the impact on their children due to their father’s absence. Both families are urging Nigerian authorities to allow the executives to return home while discussions with Binance continue.
Gambaryan and Anjarwalla were initially taken into custody on February 26, with the Nigerian government accusing Binance of destabilizing the local currency, the naira. The country has seen a significant decline in the value of its currency, leading to increased interest in cryptocurrencies as a form of investment. Binance’s troubles in Nigeria seem to stem from concerns about the exchange’s lack of transparency and alleged facilitation of speculation on the naira’s price.
The government has accused Binance of money laundering and alleged that large sums of untraceable funds passed through the platform. Additionally, authorities claim that traders on Binance’s peer-to-peer platform were colluding to manipulate the exchange value of the local currency against stablecoins like tether. As a result of these allegations, Binance has shut down its peer-to-peer trading platform in Nigeria in response to the government’s concerns.
This is not the first time that Nigeria has raised issues with Binance, as the country’s Securities and Exchange Commission previously warned against doing business with the exchange due to the risks involved. The ongoing legal issues and detention of executives have raised concerns about the broader implications for Binance’s operations in Nigeria and the impact on the cryptocurrency market in the country. The situation highlights the challenges faced by cryptocurrency exchanges operating in regulatory environments with evolving policies and enforcement actions.
