Binance CEO Richard Teng has requested to appear before the Nigerian committee.
Binance found itself in hot water in Nigeria following a settlement with the US Department of Justice (DOJ). According to local news reports, Nigeria’s House of Representatives Financial Crimes Committee issued an ultimatum to Binance CEO Richard Teng on Friday.
Committee chairwoman Ginger Onwusibe asked Teng to appear before the committee by March 4. The summons was issued for alleged involvement in financial crimes, including money laundering and terrorist financing.
Onwusibe warned that if Teng fails to respond to the summons, the commission will invoke its constitutional powers and take appropriate action.
In a US plea deal approved by a judge last week, Binance pleaded guilty to money laundering and terrorist financing. The exchange also agreed to pay a historic fine of $4.3 billion and operate monitoring as part of the settlement.
Binance has been uncooperative with the Nigerian Commission
Shortly after Binance’s U.S. appeal deal was announced, the committee first requested Binance’s managing director to attend a hearing on December 18 in a letter dated December 12. Binance was asked to brief the committee on Binance’s disregard for Nigerian law.
The Nigerian Commission issued an ultimatum after Binance declined several invitations to address the Commission in the past.
Onwusibe said:
“The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria provides powers to protect Nigerians from financial crimes, especially by foreign companies. The charges of terrorist financing, money laundering and tax evasion brought against Binance in particular are sufficiently damning.”
Onwusibe said the committee was determined to fight financial crime and “block terrorist financing channels and outflows” and that “no obstruction or manipulation can stop us.”
With Nigeria struggling with an economic downturn, the commission is trying to collect as much tax as possible.
According to Onwusibe, Binance caters to over 10 million Nigerians on its platform. However, the exchange does not pay taxes to your country. Onwusibe added that Binance also does not have a physical location in Nigeria where users can lodge complaints.
“The era of exploitation is over and all culprits must be held accountable.”
Binance’s recession is growing in Nigeria
Last week, Nigeria’s telecom regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), ordered telecom companies to block access to foreign cryptocurrency exchange websites, including Binance, Coinbase and Kraken.
According to a DLNews report, on February 26, Nigeria’s Ministry of State Security detained two Binance executives and confiscated their passports.
A day later, Nigeria’s Central Bank Governor Olayemi Cardoso said Binance Nigeria had seen “suspicious fund flows” in 2023. He said:
“For Binance, over the past year, $26 billion has passed through Binance Nigeria from sources and users that we cannot properly identify.”
On Friday, the BBC reported that the Nigerian government ordered Binance to pay $10 billion in compensation. The report also noted that the government believes Binance and its executives manipulated exchange rates through currency speculation and currency fixing.
In a report by Peoples Gazette Nigeria on the same day, a Binance spokesperson said the exchange was in talks with the government to “resolve the issue” but had not been notified of the $10 billion fine. In the same report, Special Adviser Bayo Onanuga said his comments to the BBC had been misinterpreted and that he never said the government had confirmed the amount of the fine or that Binance was aware of it.