DOLLAR SPECULATION: U.S BINANCE CEO ACCUSES NIGERIAN OFFICIALS OF BRIBE

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 DOLLAR SPECULATION: U.S BINANCE CEO ACCUSES NIGERIAN OFFICIALS OF BRIBE



* FG Insists on Prosecuting Them of Crime Committee


A U. S citizen, Richard Teng has accused some unknown(unnamed) persons of requesting for a bribe of cryptocurrency from two Binance executives, Tigran Gambaryan and Nadeem Anjarwalla.


Anjarwalla is a 37-year-old British-Kenyan and Binance's regional manager for Africa.


Gambaryan is a 39-year-old U.S citizen and Binance's head of financial crime compliance.


They had arrived Nigeria in response to the country's recent crackdown on various cryptocurrency trading platforms.


However, during their stay, they were apprehended by the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), and their passports were confiscated and detained on February 28, 2024.


Richard Teng, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Binance made the accusation on a blog post on Binance website on Tuesday.


Binance is a popular cryptocurrency trading platform.


In the blog post, Teng explained that the Binance executives tried to engage with Nigerian authorities in a number of meeting including the one that held in Abuja on January 8th.


That meeting was set up with the Nigeria government through a committee consisting of about "30 agencies", before the government eventually accused them of criminal acts.


Teng noted that the committee emphasized the serious nature of the meeting and their readiness to issue arrest warrants and restrict travel for Binance's team.


According to Teng, it was however discovered that the committee lacked the actual authority to issue arrest warrants, so the meeting was postponed to January 11, 2024.


He said: "The meeting ended with the Chair confirming they would consider the matter and revert through Binance's local counsel.


"However, as our employees were leaving the venue, they were approached by unknown persons who suggested to them to make a payment in settlement of the allegations.


"Later that day, our local counsel -- representing us at that time -- was summoned by the Committee through someone purporting to be their agent, who relayed the Committee's terms and instructed our local counsel to advise us.


"Counsel reported back that he had been presented with a demand for a significant payment in cryptocurrency to be paid in secret within 48 hours to make these issues go away and that our decision was expected by the morning.


"Our team grew increasingly concerned about their safety in Nigeria and immediately departed."


Teng said the payment request was declined "via our counsel, not viewing it to be a legitimate settlement offer".


Meanwhile, on March 24, a statement from ONSA confirmed that one of the executives, Anjarwalla, subsequently escaped from lawful custody.


However, the Federal Government said it is discussing with Interpol to secure an international arrest warrant for Anjarwalla and extradite him to Nigeria.


The Federal Government had vowed to pursue the criminal case against the crypto platform, Binance, and its officials, to a logical end.


Spokesman for the ONSA, Zakari Mijinyawa, had insisted that the Federal Government would make its case “on the strength of the facts and evidence, in accordance with due process.


“We are confident that Nigeria has a good case. Binance equally will have every opportunity under the rule of law to make its case and see justice delivered,” Mijinyawa said.

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