- Sack NSA, CGI now, HURIWA tells President Tinubu
One of two Binance executives detained in Nigeria, Nadeem Anjarwalla, has escaped custody, while the Federal Government has filed new tax evasion charges against the global cryptocurrency exchange.
The Federal Inland Revenue Service Monday announced that four new charges relating to tax evasion had been filed at the Federal High Court in Abuja.
Binance faces charges of alleged non-payment of Value-Added Tax and company income tax, failure to submit tax returns and complicity in aiding customers to evade taxes through its platform.
Alongside the company, two senior executives — U.S. citizen Tigran Gambaryan and British-Kenyan Nadeem Anjarwalla — were both charged and remanded in custody by Nigerian authorities.
Reports emerged over the weekend that Anjarwalla escaped on Friday from the Abuja guest house where the pair was detained.
“We were made aware that Nadeem is no longer in Nigerian custody. Our primary focus remains on the safety of our employees and we are working collaboratively with Nigerian authorities to quickly resolve this issue,” a Binance spokesperson told CNBC.
The Federal Government is in talks with Interpol to secure an international arrest warrant for Anjarwalla, Reuters reported, citing Nigeria’s National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu.
The families of the two employees declined to comment, but issued statements on March 20, following a hearing at which Nigerian authorities extended their detainment.
Anjarwalla’s wife, Elahe Anjarwalla, said she was “completely heartbroken” that he would not be home in time to celebrate their son’s first birthday.
“Nadeem has no authority to make high level decisions at Binance and I am once again asking from the bottom of my heart that the Nigerian authorities please allow him and Tigran to return home whilst they continue their discussions with Binance. I am also calling on the British and Kenyan governments to do more to get Nadeem back home to us,” she said.
Gambaryan’s wife Yuki said she did not know what to tell their two children about their father’s absence.
“Tigran is globally recognized for his work in law enforcement and many of his peers would say that Tigran’s continuous efforts are what keep crypto currencies safe and clean,” she said.
“Please let him come home to continue this good work. The longer that our husbands are away from our families, the harder it is becoming for us to go about our daily lives.”
Gambaryan and Anjarwalla were taken into custody in Nigeria on February 26, although neither was charged at the time with any crimes.
The Federal Government accused their employer of wreaking havoc on the country’s local currency.
Meanwhile, the Office of the National Security Adviser has confirmed that Nadeem Anjarwalla has escaped from custody.
The ONSA on Monday said Anjarwalla, who was a suspect in the probe into the activities of Binance, escaped on Friday.
Confirming the development in a statement the Head, Strategic Communication, ONSA, Zakari Mijinyawa, said a preliminary investigation showed that Anjarwalla fled Nigeria using a smuggled passport.
He noted that efforts were ongoing to arrest the suspect.
The statement read, “The Office of the National Security Adviser confirms that Nadeem ANJARWALLA, a suspect in the ongoing criminal probe into the activities of Binance in Nigeria has escaped from lawful custody on Friday, March 22, 2024.
“Upon receiving this report, this office took immediate steps, in conjunction with relevant security agencies, MDAs, as well as the international community, to apprehend the suspect. Security agencies are working with Interpol for an international arrest warrant on the suspect.
“Preliminary investigation shows that Anjarwalla fled Nigeria using a smuggled passport.”
Mijinyawa noted that those responsible for the custody of Anjarwalla had been arrested.
He noted that the investigation was ongoing to unravel the circumstances surrounding his escape.
“The personnel responsible for the custody of the suspect have been arrested, and a thorough investigation is ongoing to unravel the circumstances that led to his escape from lawful detention.
“Recall that the Federal Government of Nigeria, like other governments around the world, has been investigating money laundering and terrorism financing transactions perpetrated on the Binance currency exchange platform.
“Until his escape, Nadeem Anjarwalla, who holds British and Kenyan nationalities and served as Binance’s Africa regional manager, was being tried by Nigerian courts. The suspect escaped while under a 14-day remand order by a court in Nigeria. He was scheduled to appear before the court again on 4 April 2024” the statement added.
He urged Nigerians and the international community to help with information that could lead to the arrest of the suspect.
Mijinyawa said, “We urge the Nigerian public and the international community to provide whatever information they have that can assist law enforcement agencies to apprehend the suspect.”
Financial Times had on February 28 reported that two executives of the company were arrested and detained after they flew into the country as a result of a ban on their website.
On March 12, 2024, the FT reported that the EFCC asked Binance to share data on its 100 top users in Nigeria as well as all transaction history for the past six months.
According to the report, the request is at the centre of negotiations between Binance and Nigeria.
The Nigerian naira is one of the worst-performing currencies in the world and has lost nearly 70% of its value to the U.S. dollar over the past year. Locals have flocked to cryptocurrencies in recent years to shelter their savings from the plunging currency and a soaring inflation rate that hit nearly 30% two months ago.
But Binance’s troubles in Nigeria appear to be less about a crypto crackdown and more of an attack on what Abuja sees as a bad actor in space.
This is not the first time that Abuja has taken issue with Binance. In July 2023, Nigeria’s Securities and Exchange Commission put out a circular warning people against doing business with the exchange, noting that “any investing public dealing with this entity” was doing so at a “high level of risk” that “may result in total loss of investments.”
Sack NSA, CGI now, HURIWA tells President Tinubu
Consequently, the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria has called on President Bola Tinubu to sack his National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu and Comptroller-General of Immigration services, Kemi Nandap following the escape of Anjarwalla.
HURIWA said that the suspect has escaped from lawful custody is fantastic evidence that Nigeria has become compromised by corruption.
The prominent civil rights advocacy group argued that there should be severe and immediate consequences for this breach of national security which the spectacular but altogether staged escape of this fugitive from lawful custody demonstrates saying, “This is one of the clearest signs that there are persons in position of authority in the security architecture of Nigeria who are ready to compromise national security at the altar of pecuniary benefits.
“We call on the President to fire the National Security Adviser and the Comptroller General of Nigerian Immigration for allowing either willfully or by dereliction, this high profile breach of Nigeria’s national security because what has happened can be equated with actively aiding and abetting sabotage of Nigeria’s economy and for the Nigerian Immigration Service and the office of the National Security Adviser not to be able to provide concrete evidence that there was no compromise that allowed this fugitive to escape from lawful custody, then there must be very serious consequences.”
HURIWA is of the perception that failing to provide adequate security and surveillance around this escaped fugitive which may have made him to escape is a matter of urgent national security importance and the Nigerian state should look at these lapses from the point of view of possible compromise with corruption which has totally tarnished the image of Nigeria and painted a graphic picture of a country whereby the national security can very seamlessly be compromised even by foreigners who allegedly are alleged in deep-seated conflict with the law of Nigeria.
National Coordinator, HURIWA, Emmanuel Onwubiko in his statement said, “The Briton, who also has Kenyan citizenship, is believed to have flown out of Abuja using a Middle East airliner.
“It remains unclear how Anjarwalla got on an international flight despite his British passport, with which he entered Nigeria, remaining in the custody of the Nigerian authorities.”
HURIWA has therefore called on the Federal Government to make sure that this serious breach of national security is not allowed to slide or be consigned to the dustbin of impunity.
