The Chairman of the Nigerian House of Representatives Committee on Financial Crimes has threatened to take stern action against Binance over alleged terrorism financing and money laundering.
According to a local report, Binance Chief Executive, Richard Teng, has refused to appear before the committee despite a series of invitations to brief the committee relating to the total disregard for extant laws governing business and financial operations in the country.
Teng, who replaced Founder ChangPeng Zhao (CZ) last November [2023], is wanted to answer several mounting accusations, including the legality of Binance operations in Nigeria.
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The U.S. Federal government also issued a warning to the rest of the cryptocurrency industry.https://t.co/wScRV3EGpb pic.twitter.com/Y4fYBhRmGm
— BitKE (@BitcoinKE) November 22, 2023
In the latest summon, the chairman of the Committee, Ginger Onwusibe, issued a seven-day ultimatum to the management of Binance Holdings LTD. during a panel. The ultimatum asked the company to appear before the committee on or before March 4 2024.
The committee had previously summoned the Managing Director of Binance in a letter dated December 12 2023 signed by its chairman, Onwusibe, requesting a hearing on December 18 2023.
Binance, a leading online exchange where users trade cryptocurrencies, has been flagged by the Central Bank of Nigeria for its alleged involvement in money laundering.
''in the case of Binance, In the last one year, 26 billion dollars has passed through Binance Nigeria from sources and users who we cannot adequately identify.''
CBN Governor, Olayemi Cardoso pic.twitter.com/A6O2wlsY5M
— Channels Television (@channelstv) February 27, 2024
Binance has been under fire from the federal government of Nigeria which suspended the firm’s activities alongside Coinbase, Kraken, Forextime, OctaFX, Crypto, and FXTM for ‘fixing the exchange rate.’
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“There was a meeting of crypto founders on Tuesday [February 27 2024] morning, and a number of them agreed to suspend the trades on their platform,” a person at that meeting told a local… pic.twitter.com/iiYBuYrpOu
— BitKE (@BitcoinKE) February 29, 2024
Two executives of the company were allegedly detained by Nigeria’s Office of the National Security Adviser, and their passports were confiscated after they flew into the country last week.
“We have to protect and defend the country’s finances, especially now that the country is nose-diving into recession. The allegations of terrorism financing, money laundering and tax evasion amongst others leveled against Binance are damning enough,” said Onwusibe.
“At this material time, we need all the tax dollars and to block the leaks and channels to financing terror. It is also our duty to do everything in our power to protect Nigerian investors from predatory firms, and no distraction and manipulation can stop us.
You cannot run a company with over 10 million Nigerians on your platform without paying tax and having a physical office where Nigerians can lodge their complaints when they experience any challenge with your service. The era of exploitation is over and all culprits must be held accountable.”
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