Nigerian Lawmakers Seek Arrest of Binance Executives

The House of Representatives has threatened to invoke its constitutional powers against Binance Holdings Limited following the failure of its executives to appear at its public hearing to respond to a series of allegations against the company.

The House Committee on Financial Crimes had summoned the Managing Director of Binance, Richard Teng, in a letter dated 12th December, 2023, signed by its chairman, Hon. Ginger Onwusibe, requesting appearance at the hearing.

Rather than the management team of the company to appear before the Committee, a team of lawyers was sent instead.

However, the Committee told lawyers that their representations would not be accepted.

Checks revealed that Binance Holdings Limited, operators of Digital Assets Exchange in Nigeria had been operating in Nigeria for over six years allegedly without any adherence to financial regulatory frameworks and has been accused of exploiting Nigerians and committing other financial crimes.

A coalition of civil society organisations led by the Niger Delta Youth Council Worldwide and the Empowerment for Unemployed Youths against Binance Holdings Limited had petitioned the Committee to scrutinise the firm’s activities.

Onwusibe, while speaking at the public hearing Monday, in Abuja, lamented that Teng, refused to appear before the committee after a series of invitations.

He stated: “The committee will be forced to recommend to the House to arrest Binance executives since they have failed to appear before the committee.

“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. 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 leveled against them in the petitions brought to us by the Empowerment for Unemployed Youths and Niger Delta youths Council.

“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 relationship financing of terrorism, money laundering and other financial crimes as stated in the petition including evasion of tax.”

The committee commended the petitioners for unearthing this grievous financial crimes going on in the country for more than six years now.

Onwusibe added: “Binance has been operating in the financial space of this country for more than six years and they have nothing less than 20 million Nigerians that they are exploiting.”

In its response, the legal team of Binance led by Senator Ihenyen said Binance executives did not appear before the committee because two other executives who were to appear at the meeting were arrested upon their arrival in Nigeria by the office of the National Security Adviser.

According to him, following the arrest of the two executives, other persons could not come into Nigeria.

“Binance has responded appropriately to the demands of the committee and as our client we are pleading that this honorable committee consider taking the report,” he added.

Meanwhile, a Northern group, Arewa Think Tank, on Monday, said the arrest of Binance executives by the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) signaled Nigeria’s intolerance to financial misconduct.

It alleged that Binance, dealers in crypto currency, allegedly aided the funding of terrorism, money laundering, tax evasion,  currency speculation and other organised crimes over the years in Nigeria.

It noted that Binance was involved in crypto currency business with alleged staggering $26 billion in transactions from unidentified sources, amounting to financial misconduct that is threatening national security and unity.

A statement issued by the Chief Convener of Arewa Think Tank, Muhammad Yakubu, noted that the move by government showed that the National Security Adviser, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu was prepared to fight terrorism and corruption to a standstill in the country.

“We want to commend the bold move by Mallam Nuhu Ribadu to detain them and demand data to uncover the truth behind the staggering $26 billion in transactions from unidentified sources.

“This has sent a strong message to the crypto currency world; Nigeria will not tolerate any financial misconduct that threatens its national security and unity”, it said.

“Let’s not forget that Binance has a history of legal troubles, with countries like Canada, Netherlands, Malaysia, and the UK taking action against the platform. The U.S. even imposed a $4.3 billion fine, of which $1.8 billion was a criminal fine.

“The Nigerian government’s swift and decisive action in this situation is a breath of fresh air, especially when compared to the negligence of the previous administration. It’s time for the world to take notice and follow Nigeria’s lead in standing up to financial misconduct”, it said.

The Arewa Think Tank said it would back President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for the second term in office by 2027 general elections.

However, the statement added that, “Tinubu has no excuse for not fighting corruption as the whole country and the opposition are behind him in the war against corruption”.

The group said with the rate at which Tinubu was fighting corruption, it had no choice than to support him to complete his two terms of eight years in office before the North or any other region will begin the race in 2031.

The statement added that since “Tinubu was about to recover over $14 billion allegedly stolen by two people in Buhari’s administration, the wise thing to do is to support him to spend the constitutional eight years in office in order to ensure adequate sanity in the system.

“An investigation report published by a national daily has disclosed that President Bola Tinubu is on the verge of recovering over $14 billion of looted funds traced to a few individuals in ex-President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration”, it said.

The group asserted that a certain publication made reference to an investigation by Jim Obaze, the Special Investigator appointed by President Tinubu, and confirmed that billions of dollars were traced to certain individuals, with just two people possessing over $14bn of looted public funds.

“Some of the figures we get to hear are troubling. What does anybody want to do with $6 billion? What does anybody want to do with $8 billion? These figures are something else.

“We are worried that Jim Obaze has not been finding it easy on the investigative job as a result of constant meddling and needless interference from a few powerful players in the present administration, despite the fact that President Tinubu has given him the free hands to dig into everything  that had to do with how funds from Nigeria’s treasury disappeared or found their way into private hands.

“We also gathered that the billions of dollars were looted from over-invoicing to forgeries, unauthorised releases, influence-peddling, funds diversion, arms deals, forex deals and other financial malfeasances during the last administration,” it alleged.

The group further alleged that the monies printed using the instrumentality of ways and means, amounting to over N30 trillion during the Buhari administration, suffered a series of alleged mishaps, leading to diversion and unaccountability.

“We hope that the looted funds which are about to be recovered by President Tinubu will not be re-looted like the Abacha loot. If that happens, it will jeopardise his second term bid for the prestigious office in the land.

“Therefore, we advise that President Tinubu should start early weeding of corrupt officials in his government before it is too late”, the statement said.

Kingsley Nwezeh and Adedayo Akinwale

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