The chief executive officer of Binance, a cryptocurrency platform on Tuesday claimed that some unknown persons in Nigeria demanded huge payments in digital currency to make their problems in the country “go away”.
The firm’s chief executive officer (CEO), Richard Teng made the disclosure via a blog post.
The federal government earlier this year 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.
Anjarwalla later fled Nigeria after escaping from custody.
The federal government Nigeria’s government, on March 25, filed a criminal charge against Binance for “tax evasion”.
However, speaking on the matter on Tuesday, Teng explained how Binance 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.”
Nigerian Officials Demanded Crypto Payments To Drop Case – Binance CEO
