The incident allegedly occurred before Gambaryan and a
colleague, Nadeem Anjarwalla, were arrested and detained on the orders of the
National Security Adviser. Anjarwalla subsequently escaped and has been traced
to Kenya.
Gambaryan has been held in Kuje Correctional Facility
in the last four weeks, after he was
transferred there from a safe house on April 8.
Both Binance and Gambaryan are facing trial for tax evasion
and money laundering.
Their trial was scheduled to begin last Thursday, but the
court postponed it until May 17.
Gambaryan reportedly wrote a three-page report describing
the payment request and gave it to Binance’s lawyers, two people familiar with
the report told NYT.
He also reportedly alerted contacts in the Nigerian
government and recounted the incident to them.
Binance had denied
that Gambaryan had any “decision-making power” in the company.
The case is the latest legal headache for Binance, which
agreed to a $4.3bn fine last year to settle charges by the US government that
it allowed criminal activity to flourish on its platform.
In April, the company’s founder, Changpeng Zhao, was
sentenced to four months in prison for his role in those violations.
The spokesman for the ONSA, Zakari Mijinyawa, said in a text
message to NYT 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.
In his post, Teng
laid out the history of Binance’s engagement with Nigeria, which has become a
hotspot for the crypto industry.
It has the second-highest rate of crypto adoption in the
world behind India, according to Chainalysis, a data firm.
In 2023, the financial regulators issued a statement
directing Binance to stop soliciting investors in Nigeria.
Binance halted its advertising in the country and offered to
meet with government officials, Teng said.
On January 8, Teng said Gambaryan and a group of Binance
employees met with lawmakers, but the meeting was contentious
The lawmakers, he wrote, read aloud a list of accusations
against Binance, including tax violations.
They also threatened to pursue an arrest warrant for Teng,
the article said.
As the Binance employees left the meeting, Teng wrote they
were approached by “unknown persons” who suggested that they make a payment to
settle the allegations.
Later, a local lawyer representing Binance spoke with
someone purporting to be an agent of the House committee, Teng further claimed
in his article, adding that the purported agent demanded “a significant payment
in cryptocurrency to be paid in secret within 48 hours to make these issues go
away,”
The amount was roughly $150m, four people familiar with the
matter said, according to a Bloomberg report, quoting NYT sources.
“Our team grew increasingly concerned about their safety in
Nigeria and immediately departed. We, of course, declined the payment demand
via our counsel, not viewing it to be a legitimate settlement offer,” Teng
wrote in his post.
Teng claimed that Binance had received assurances that Gambaryan would be safe if he returned to
Nigeria.
According to him, a company adviser with deep local
connections recommended that Binance officials meet with the ONSA.
EFCC dismisses
allegation
However, a prosecutor with the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission, Ekele Iheanacho, dismissed Teng’s allegation, vowing to prosecute
the case to the end.
Iheanacho, one of the lawyers prosecuting the Binance
officials, said, ‘’Nobody demanded any money, the case is being taken to a
logical conclusion. He’s making it up although I am not aware of any such
allegations. As far as I am concerned, the charges are going on and we are
making every effort to ensure that we get to a logical end.’’
The Media Adviser to the Attorney-General of the Federation,
Kamarudeen Ogundele, directed inquiries to the information minister and the
Presidency.
He said “You can call the minister of information or
president’s spokesperson. This allegation is not court-related. It is not an
allegation against the Attorney-General of the Federation.
The information minister, Mohammed Idris, could not be
reached for comment as calls to his phone rang out.
But senior officials, who spoke in separate interviews with
The PUNCH on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to talk
about the matter, dared the Binance boss to reveal the names of individuals who
demanded the bribe.
A top official in the ONSA, who is close to the probe, said,
“Did he (Binance CEO) mention a name? Since he didn’t mention a name, why
should anyone be worried? Why should anyone waste their time if somebody made
an unfounded allegation but could not mention any name?”
A top EFCC chief, who is close to the trial, also said, “If
someone would say something like this, he should have the capacity to mention
the people. It’s not worth our time, anybody can say anything but as long as
they can’t substantiate it, it’s a waste of time. He should mention names, if
not, all that he’s saying is rubbish.”
Two top officials at the EFCC accused the Binance CEO of blackmailing
the Federal Government.
They noted that
Teng’s claim was frivolous, describing his action as ‘’the modus operandi of
foreign personalities and corporations facing legal charges in Nigeria and
other African countries.’’
One of the sources noted, “It is not only the EFCC that is
prosecuting or investigating Binance over its atrocities against Nigeria. There
are allegations of money laundering, and tax evasion, amongst others, against
the company, and several federal government agencies are probing the company’s
activities in the country.
“But the latest comment about alleged request for bribery by
the Binance CEO is a blackmail against the Federal Government. That is the
modus operandi of international corporations and individuals facing charges in
Nigeria or anywhere else in Africa.”
A senior official noted, “It is the tradition of these
international players to blackmail the country whenever they’re caught. What is
the correlation between the alleged request for bribes and the allegations
brought against Binance?
“The facts are there – they evaded tax, their platform is
being used to launder money, so why are they not facing the facts? The claim is
frivolous and a mere blackmail against the government.”
The spokesperson for ONSA, Mijinyawa, could not be reached
for comments on Tuesday. He did not respond to calls and a message sent to his
phone.
The spokesperson for the EFCC, Dele Oyewale, declined
comment.
CSOs react
Commenting on the development, the Executive Director of the
Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre, Auwal Musa Ibrahim, said he wasn’t
surprised by the allegation, noting the bad reputation of Nigeria’s
administrative justice system.
He urged the CEO to “be bold enough” to name persons and
organisations involved in the alleged demand for bribes so that they could be
dealt with decisively.
‘’This allegation is
not enough, it should be investigated and let Nigerians know those undermining
their country’s integrity. The (Binance) CEO should be bold enough to mention
those individuals or corporate organisations that have demanded bribes on this
matter.
‘’This is important in order not to make frivolous
accusations and to also deal decisively with these public officials who always
mortgage this country. So, we urge him to be courageous and bold enough to also
mention those individuals, those organisations, those government officials, if
at all they were involved”, he said
Similarly, the Chairman of the Centre for Accountability and
Open Leadership, Debo Adeniran, said Binance should be compelled to name the
alleged persons so they can be prosecuted.
He added that the officials who allowed the Binance
executive to slip out of the country should be equally investigated.
“Binance should be compelled to name names, and everyone
involved should be prosecuted and punished. All the agencies involved in the
Binance case; DSS, NIA, DMI, Immigration Services, which let him slip out of
Nigeria should be investigated and culpable offenders should be prosecuted and
given deterrent punishment,’’ he suggested.
Binance did not respond to email queries to provide clarity
and insight on the ‘unknown persons’ who suggested making payment to settle the
allegations.
The crypto exchange did not also respond to how much the
‘unknown persons’ requested.
