A Binance executive detained in Nigeria has escaped custody, while the Nigerian government has filed new tax evasion charges against the global cryptocurrency exchange.
Nigeria's Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) announced on Monday that four new charges of tax evasion have been filed at the Federal High Court in Abuja, according to multiple local media reports.
Binance is reportedly facing accusations of not paying value-added tax (VAT) and corporate income tax, not filing tax returns, and colluding in helping customers evade taxes through its platform.
Along with the company, two senior executives – US citizen Tigran Gambaryan and British-Kenyan Nadeem Angarwala – were charged by Nigerian authorities and remanded in custody.
Reports emerged over the weekend that Angarwala on Friday escaped from the guest house in Abuja where the couple were being held.
A Binance spokesperson told CNBC: “We have learned that Nadeem is no longer detained in Nigeria. Our primary focus remains the safety of our employees and we are working collaboratively with Nigerian authorities to quickly resolve this issue.”
Reuters reported, citing Nigeria's National Security Adviser, that the country is in talks with Interpol to issue an international arrest warrant for Angarwala. The NSA did not immediately respond to CNBC's request for comment.
The employees' families declined to comment at this time, but issued statements on March 20, following a hearing in which Nigerian authorities extended their detention.
Angarwala's wife, Elahi Angarwala, said she was “very sad” that he would not be home in time to celebrate their son's first birthday.
“Nadim has no authority to make high-level decisions at Binance and I again ask from the bottom of my heart that the Nigerian authorities allow him and Tigran to return home while they continue their discussions with Binance. I also call on the international community to make further efforts to return Nadeem to “Our homeland.”
Gambarian's wife, Yuki, said she did not know what to say to her two children about their father's absence.
“Tigran is known globally for his law enforcement work, and many of his peers would say that it is Tigran’s ongoing efforts that keep cryptocurrencies safe and clean,” she said.
“Please let him come home to continue this good work. The longer our husbands are away from our families, the harder it will be for us to continue our daily lives.”
A month in prison
Gambarian and Angarwala were detained in Nigeria on February 26, although neither had been charged at the time with any crimes. The Abuja government accused the employer of causing chaos in the country's local currency.
The Nigerian Naira is one of the worst performing currencies in the world, having lost nearly 70% of its value against the US Dollar over the past year. Locals have flocked to cryptocurrencies in recent years to protect their savings from the currency's decline and high inflation, which reached nearly 30% two months ago.
But it appears that Binance's problems in Nigeria are less about an anti-crypto campaign and more about an attack on what Abuja sees as a bad actor in the space.
IBADAN, NIGERIA – FEBRUARY 19, 2024: Demonstrators are seen protesting against rising prices and difficult living conditions in Ibadan on February 19, 2024.
Samuel Albee | AFP | Getty Images
Nigeria expressed two main concerns about Binance – the fact that the government did not know where the money was going or how it was moving through the exchange, and that the exchange was facilitating speculation on the naira price through one peer to another. – Peer market.
The government alleged that Binance was laundering money and that $26 billion worth of untraceable funds had moved through the exchange.
Authorities in Abuja also alleged that traders using this P2P platform to trade the local currency against stablecoins pegged to the US dollar, such as Tether, were colluding on the price to maximize the exchange value. Binance has since shut down its peer-to-peer trading platform in Nigeria.
This is not the first time Abuja has raised an issue with Binance. In July 2023, the Nigerian Securities and Exchange Commission issued a circular warning people against dealing with the exchange, stating that “any public investor dealing with this entity” was doing so. This comes at a “high level of risk” that “may lead to a complete loss of investments.”
— CNBC's Roksandra Iordas contributed to this report.
