Nigeria government recently accused Binance of manipulating exchange rates and being a loophole for illegal money laundering. Two senior executives were even detained when they flew to the country for negotiations in February. The latest news on Monday revealed that one of the detained executives has escaped from custody and left the country, while the other executive remains in detention.
Summary:
Nadeem Anjarwalla’s escape from detention
Detained Binance executives leaving Nigeria
Nigeria adds four new tax evasion charges against Binance
In the past month, the Nigerian government has banned Binance, Coinbase, and other exchanges, accusing Binance of “manipulating exchange rates,” causing a 70% depreciation of the Nigerian Naira, and being involved in money laundering. At the end of February, two Binance executives who went to Nigeria for negotiations were even detained by the Nigerian government.
However, according to local media “Premium Times” on the 25th, Nadeem Anjarwalla, a 38-year-old British and Kenyan dual citizen and regional manager of Binance Africa, has escaped from custody and left the country by taking a Middle Eastern Airlines flight from the Nigerian capital, Abuja. On the other hand, Tigran Gambaryan, the American executive responsible for compliance affairs who was detained with Anjarwalla, remains in custody.
According to a source, the two Binance executives were detained in a hotel operated by the Nigerian National Security Adviser’s Office, where they enjoyed many privileges, such as using the telephone. It is believed that Anjarwalla planned his escape using the excuse of fasting during Ramadan, and had a duty guard take him to a nearby mosque, where he successfully used his Kenyan passport to board an international flight (his British passport, which he used to enter the country, had been confiscated by Nigerian authorities).
According to BBC reports, the Nigerian National Security Adviser’s Office (ONSA) stated in a statement that Anjarwalla escaped the country with a “smuggled passport,” but Anjarwalla’s family insists that he left through legal means.
ONSA also emphasized that Nigerian authorities are cooperating with Interpol to issue an “international arrest warrant” for the suspects, and stated that the personnel responsible for detaining the suspects have been arrested and are being investigated for the circumstances that led to Anjarwalla’s legal detention.
In response to this, a Binance spokesperson stated:
In addition, it was reported that Anjarwalla escaped on the day after the Nigerian Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) filed four criminal charges related to tax evasion against him, the other detained executive, and Binance. Binance has been accused of failing to pay value-added tax and corporate income tax, failing to submit tax returns, and conspiring to help customers evade taxes through its platform.
Regarding the accusations from Nigeria, Binance had previously responded publicly, pointing out that Binance has always had substantial cooperation with the Nigerian government, including actively cooperating with investigations related to financial crimes and assisting in training investigators. Binance emphasized its commitment to continue cooperating with Nigerian law enforcement agencies to promote responsible growth.
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