“Binance is not here.
We have taken a position on it in our last sitting that we are not going to
entertain legal representation from Binance and that position stands,” Onwusibe
said.
The committee had summoned Richard Teng, chief executive of
Binance, over an alleged money laundering, illegal operations, financial
terrorism, and tax evasion petition from the Niger Delta Youth Council World
Wide, Empowerment for Unemployed Youth Initiative, and other civil society
organisations.
Onwusibe said the committee had sent a letter dated December
12, 2023, inviting Teng, but he disregarded the invitation along with several
subsequent ones.
“Based on the fact
that Binance is not here, we need to make a recommendation to the house of
representatives for the house to invoke its powers of subpoena to issue a
warrant for the leadership of Binance to be arrested and be brought to this committee
to answer questions of the grave allegations levelled against them in the
petitions brought to us by the Empowerment for Unemployed Youths and Niger
Delta youths Council,” the committee chairman said.
“This committee has resolved to recommend to the house to
invoke its constitutional powers by issuing a subpoena and a warrant for
Binance executives to be arrested and brought to this Committee to answer these
questions regarding relationship financing of terrorism, money laundering and
other financial crimes as stated in the petition, including evasion of tax.
“We thank the petitioners for unearthing this grievous
financial crime going on in this country for more than six years now.
“Binance has been operating in the financial space of this
country for more than six years and they have not less than 20 million
Nigerians that they are exploiting.”
CLAIMS AGAINST
BINANCE
The cryptocurrency trading platform is facing a crackdown by
the federal government.
The federal government had accused Binance of “illegal
transactions” in Nigeria, demanding at least $10 billion as retribution.
The government reportedly detained two top executives of
Binance on February 28, 2024, over allegations of price manipulation.
On February 27, Olayemi Cardoso, governor of the Central
Bank of Nigeria (CBN), said $26 billion passed through Binance Nigeria from
unidentified sources in one year.
Cardoso said the apex bank is collaborating with the SEC to
ensure there is no manipulation in the FX market.
He said there was also collaboration between the different
agencies, which includes the EFCC, the police, and the office of the national
security adviser (NSA).
On June 9, 2023, the Securities and Exchange Commission
(SEC) said the operations of Binance Nigeria Limited, a subsidiary of Binance,
were illegal.
Meanwhile, despite the federal government and the CBN’s
clampdown, Binance is still operational in Nigeria.
The crypto firm, has, however discontinued the trading of
the naira against bitcoin and tether cryptocurrencies on its exchange platform.
