Company executive escapes custody: Nigeria and Binance at odds

12PUNTO FOREIGN NEWS

Nigerian authorities filed a lawsuit against cryptocurrency exchange company Binance on Monday, charging it with four counts of tax evasion, and stated that they are cooperating with Interpol to arrest an official of the company who escaped from custody last week.

The charges follow an investigation conducted at Binance's Nigerian office over allegations that attempts were made to manipulate Nigeria's currency.

The Federal Inland Revenue Service of Nigeria stated in a statement on Monday that Binance violated four tax laws by failing to pay company income tax, failing to pay value-added tax, failing to comply with tax return filing obligations, and facilitating tax evasion for Binance users.

The government also reported that Binance did not complete the necessary official registration procedures for tax purposes.

Binance has previously denied any wrongdoing in Nigeria. 

Nigerian authorities detained two of the company's executives, US citizen Tigran Gambaryan and British-Kenyan Nadeem Anjawalla, on February 26.

Eze Onyekpere, founder of the Center for Social Justice, expressed that they were expecting the arrest of the executives.

Onyekpere stated the following:

"It should not be surprising that they have violated Nigerian laws. Nigeria is not the only country to accuse (Binance) executives of violating laws. The only reasonable thing to do is to bring them to court and give them the opportunity to defend themselves."

COMPANY EXECUTIVE ESCAPES CUSTODY

According to a report by VOA, the office of the national security adviser announced on Monday that Anjawalla had escaped from custody. Officials stated that they are working with international police (Interpol) for Anjawalla's arrest.

In a statement to the press, Binance company executives said they were aware that one of their officials was no longer in custody.

Nigerian authorities had launched a series of reforms last year, including currency controls, in an effort to revive the economy.

However, months after the reforms began, the Nigerian currency, the 'naira', lost approximately 70 percent of its value. Officials claim that companies like Binance are trying to manipulate the currency.

Public finance expert Isaac Botti, speaking to AFP News, emphasized that such an incident would not be possible if the government were not so negligent toward firms like Binance that use the system for their own interests.

Botti said, "Our system is designed to be permeable, and that is the advantage these guys have gained. They understand the system. In a sane climate, you would not make room for such porosity in your system."

Earlier this month, Binance terminated all transactions and trading in Nigeria's local currency and announced that remaining balances would be automatically converted to tether, a cryptocurrency pegged to the US dollar.

News Source: 12punto