The government is not giving up on the unraveling of information on how Binance Holdings Limited allowed its platform to be used to manipulate naira exchange rate as a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja on Monday ordered the company to provide all information and data about Nigerians trading on its platform to the Economic
The government is not giving up on the unraveling of information on how Binance Holdings Limited allowed its platform to be used to manipulate naira exchange rate as a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja on Monday ordered the company to provide all information and data about Nigerians trading on its platform to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)
The High Court judge, Emeka Nwite, the presiding judge, gave the ruling on the motion ex parte moved by the EFCC lawyer, Ekele Iheanacho, on February 29th to probe the activities of the crypto organisation.
The application in ex-parte motion, with the file number FHC/ABJ/CS/259/2024, was filed following the court’s inherent powers as well as Sections 6(b), (h), (I), 7(1), (a)(2), and 38 of the Economic and Financial Crimes Establishment Act, 2004 and Section 15 of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022 (as amended).
An affidavit supporting the motion signed by EFCC operator Hamma Bello stated that the antigraft investigation team had received an intelligence report indicating the illegal activities (money laundering and terrorism financing) on Binance.
The affidavit further expounded that “on receipt of the intelligence, the team began the investigation by conducting surveillance of the activities of the platform,”
“The team uncovered users who have been using the platform for price discovery, confirmation, and market manipulation which has caused tremendous distortions in the market, resulting in the Naira losing its value against other currencies.
“The damage the platform has caused was clearly explained to the operators of the platform and they were requested to delist the Naira and avail the ONSA on the activities of the Nigerians on their platform.
“The information afforded to the team by Binance shows that the total trading volume from Nigeria in 2023 alone stood at $21.6 (twenty-one billion, six hundred million dollars).
“Attached and marked as Exhibit EFCC 1 is a copy of the document from Binance to the ONSA stating this fact amongst others.
“That the commission will ensure that investigation is conducted within such reasonable time.”
Giving judgement on the matter, justice Nwite said the application filed by the antigraft agency was granted enforcing the cryptocurrency platform to provide every needed information to the EFCC.
“The applicant’s application, dated and filed on February 2024, is hereby granted as prayed,” the judge held.
“That an order of this honourable court is hereby made directing the operators of Binance to provide the commission with comprehensive data/information relating to all persons from Nigeria trading on its platform.”
The government, in its effort to combat the plummeting Naira against the Dollars in the foreign exchange has reportedly demanded $10 billion in retaliation for Binance’s profiting from “its illegal transactions” in Nigeria, which led Binance to discontinue all Naira trading on its platform shortly after.
It is believed in government circles that some of the money traded on the platform were proceeds of corruption and money laundering. It has also been alleged that some of the proceeds traded on the platform may have been funneled towards funding terrorism in the country.
The two Binance Officials in government’s custody are Tigran Gambaryan, a former special agent of the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and Binance’s head of financial crime compliance, and Nadeem Anjarwalla, the regional manager for Binance Kenya. The two have been held on Court order in Abuja for some weeks, and their passports withheld by the security agency looking into their matter.
At the government’s invitation, the officials visited Nigeria to address the ongoing issues surrounding Binance’s operations in the country. Gambaryan and Anjarwalla were consequently arrested and removed from their hotels and relocated to a guesthouse managed by Nigeria’s National Security Agency.
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