Abuja, May 7, 2024 – Richard Teng, the Chief Executive of Binance, on Tuesday alleged that some Nigerian government officials demanded large amounts in digital currency to make their problems “ go away”.
Teng disclosed this in a blog post, adding that the Binance legal representative, however, declined the offer from those undisclosed officials.
Binance had had some issues with the Federal Government over the company’s alleged illegal business deals in Nigeria.
On February 28, the Office of the National Special Adviser (ONSA) had detained two top executives of Binance as part of an investigation bordering on illegal operations in the country and foreign exchange rate manipulations.
The detained executives included, a 37-year-old British-Kenyan, Nadeem Anjarwalla who is Binance’s regional manager for Africa; and a 39-year-old US citizen, Tigran Gambaryan, Binance’s head of financial crime compliance.
On March 25, the Federal Government filed a criminal charge against Binance for “tax evasion” — the same period Anjarwalla fled detention.
Speaking on Binance’s issues with the Nigerian government, Teng explained how the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange made an attempt to engage with the authorities, including a meeting on January 8 in Abuja, where it was confronted with criminal allegations.
The Binance CEO said that despite requests, the crypto firm has still not received details of the allegations, saying, “And our employees, therefore, inquired if there was an opportunity to submit our responses in writing and in the absence of a public hearing”.
“There were a number of reasons for that, including the sensitivity of the information and getting the opportunity to see the allegations in full and prepare a thorough substantive response,” 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.
The Binance chief executive said Binance clarified that it would engage in settlement negotiations on the conditions that the relevant petition or the details of all allegations were seen, adding that any settlement “must be official, recorded in writing, and signed by all relevant parties”.
