Binance, a popular cryptocurrency platform, says some unknown persons in Nigeria demanded huge payments in digital currency to make their problems in the country “go away”.
Richard Teng, the firm’s chief executive officer (CEO), made
the claim in a blog post shared on Tuesday.
On February 28, the federal government detained two top
executives of Binance as part of a probe bordering on illegal operations in the
country and foreign exchange rate manipulations.
The detained executives included Nadeem Anjarwalla, a 37-year-old British-Kenyan and Binance’s regional manager for Africa; and Tigran Gambaryan, a 39-year-old US citizen and Binance’s head of financial crime compliance.
Nigeria’s government, on March 25, filed a criminal charge
against Binance for “tax evasion” — the same period Anjarwalla fled detention.
Speaking on Binance’s issues with the Nigerian government,
Teng detailed how the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange tried to engage
with the authorities, including a meeting on January 8 in Abuja, where it was
confronted with criminal allegations.
Teng said despite multiple requests, Binance has still not
received details of the allegations, “and our employees, therefore, inquired if
there was an opportunity to submit our responses in writing and in the absence
of a public hearing”.
“There were a number
of reasons for that, including the sensitivity of the information and getting
the opportunity to see the allegations in full and prepare a thorough
substantive response,” he said.
“The meeting ended with the Chair confirming they would
consider the matter and revert through Binance’s local counsel.
“However, as our employees were leaving the venue, they were
approached by unknown persons who suggested to them to make a payment in
settlement of the allegations.
“Later that day, our local counsel — representing us at that
time — was summoned by the Committee through someone purporting to be their
agent, who relayed the Committee’s terms and instructed our local counsel to
advise us.
“Counsel reported
back that he had been presented with a demand for a significant payment in
cryptocurrency to be paid in secret within 48 hours to make these issues go
away and that our decision was expected by the morning.
“Our team grew increasingly concerned about their safety in
Nigeria and immediately departed.”
Teng said the payment request was declined “via our counsel,
not viewing it to be a legitimate settlement offer”.
The CEO said Binance clarified that it would engage in
settlement negotiations on the conditions that the relevant petition or the
details of all allegations were seen.
In addition, he said any settlement “must be official,
recorded in writing, and signed by all relevant parties”.
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