1 week ago
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From Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
The House of Representatives Committee on Financial Crimes, has said that cryptocurrency firm, Binance, has resorted to blackmail against the House, so as to escape accountability.
The chairman, House Committee on Financial Crimes, Ginger Onwusibe, stated this in a statement, on Saturday. He said the committee which commenced a probe of Binance in January, 2024, never demanded bribe from the firm.
Onwusibe, who was reacting to the latest allegation by an executive of Binance, Tigran Gambaryan, linking him to alleged demand of $150 million by lawmakers, said the claims are “false, malicious, and defamatory.”
Recall that the House had on May 8, 2024, denied demanding bribes from Binance. This followed allegations by the firm that three members of the Committee on Financial Crimes, at a meeting with its officials, allegedly demanded bribes from them.
The House Committee on Financial Crimes, prior to the allegations, was investigating alleged infractions by Binance.
On Friday, Gambaryan, in a post on social blogging site X ( formerly Twitter) alleged that the deputy spokesman of the House, Philip Agbese, and Peter Akpanke and another member of the House, whose identity, he could not recall, allegedly solicited $150 million bribe from his firm, which would be paid into their crypto wallet.
However, Onwusibe explained that following a blog post by Binance Managing Director, Richard Teng, impugning on his integrity last year, he filed a lawsuit against the company, which is still ongoing.
According to him, “in December 2023, my committee received a petition from a CSO/NGO, the Empowerment for Unemployed Youth Initiative, alleging multiple financial and economic crimes and irregularities perpetrated by Binance against the Nigerian economy and state.
Onwusibe explained that after his committee invited Binance over the petition, Teng, through a representative, reached out to the panel to agree on a convenient date.
And January 10, 2024 was agreed for the company to appear at the investigative hearing.
He further explained that at a pre-hearing meeting which held in the premises of the National Assembly Complex, Three Arms Zone, Abuja, detailed facts on the allegations against Binance as contained in the aforesaid petition, was made available to them to assist them in preparing for the public hearing scheduled for the 10th day of January 2024.
“The meeting was open, transparent and ended on a cordial note. No solicitation or demands of any type was made by representatives of the Committee to the Binance and/or their representatives at the meeting.
“The specific allegation made by Mr. Richard Teng and Binance initially was that demands for bribes were made by “unknown persons” after they had left the pre-hearing meeting. This is contrary to the allegation now made by Mr. Gambaryan today that demands for bribes were made during the meeting allegedly held in a room/office equipped with ‘fake’ cameras and microphones.
“Having refused to appear before a validly and lawfully scheduled Congressional Public Hearing and also facilitated the escape of its staff from the lawful custody of Nigerian security agencies, Binance and several of its staff, particularly, Mr. Richard Teng and Mr. Tigran Gambaryan have resorted to blackmail, false and malicious accusations against the Nigerian State and its institutions/officials in order to draw wool over the eyes of the public, deflect and disrupt the attention of the public from the actual facts and issues in contention.”
English (US) ·