Nigeria's FIRS Accuses Correctional Service Over Binance Executive's Court Absence
Summary:
The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) in Nigeria has blamed the Nigerian Correctional Service for not bringing Binance executive Tigran Gambaryan to court for his tax evasion trial. The case was adjourned until June 14, and the defendant remains under detention. Gambaryan and co-defendant Nadeem Anjarwalla are accused of various tax-related charges, including failure to register with FIRS and facilitating tax evasion. The case arose due to allegations that Binance concealed the origin of $35,400,000 in funds generated in Nigeria. Anjarwalla is currently deemed "at large".
Nigeria's Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has called out the Nigerian Correctional Service for allegedly neglecting to bring Binance executive Tigran Gambaryan to the Federal High Court in Abuja concerning his tax evasion lawsuit. Local reports state that the Binance official, who's currently under detention, did not present himself in court on May 22 to respond to tax evasion assertions brought forward by FIRS. The prosecuting attorney, Moses Idehu, in court on Wednesday, didn't hide his bewilderment about the detention of the executive, who was expected to be escorted from custody. He admitted that attempts to reach correctional centre officials turned out fruitless. Idehu requested the proceedings be put on hold for some time, suggesting an adjournment of the case until later in the day to resolve the current issue. However, Justice Emeka Nwite, sitting at the Federal High Court in Abuja, postponed Gambaryan's hearing till June 14. Binance's legal representative, T.J. Krukrubo, vehemently opposed the lack of representation of his client by the prosecution. Concurrently, Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Chukwuka Ikwuazo, Gambaryan's representative, seized the opportunity to urge the judge to command FIRS to remove Nadeem Anjarwalla, co-defendant’s name, from the adjusted charges, as he has been labelled “at large.” The FIRS attorney conceded to taking necessary steps to remove Nadeem Anjarwalla's name from the charge sheet. In related news, Binance.US managed to reclaim their Florida money services license. Tigran Gambaryan was shifted to the Kuje Correctional Centre Abuja in April 2024, denying money laundering allegations filed against him by the Economic and Financial Crime Commission. He was refused bail and continues to be in detention. The accusations infer to hiding the origin of funds amounting to $35,400,000 made by Binance in Nigeria. The FIRS previously put forward charges of tax evasion against Binance and its directors in March 2024, involving Tigran Gambaryan and Nadeem Anjarwalla. The charges encompassed failure to register with the FIRS, failure to remit corporate income tax, failure to submit value-added tax, and abetting tax evasion.The Nigerian Government pinned the cryptocurrency exchange with accusations of impacting foreign exchange (FX) rates, invoking sterner monitoring of cryptocurrency trading platforms.Nigerian officials detained Anjarwalla, a 37-year-old British-Kenyan serving as the regional manager for Africa, and Gambaryan, a 39-year-old American head of financial crime compliance, on February 28.
Published At
5/23/2024 1:50:37 PM
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