Business a.m.
The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) in Abuja has filed a legal case against the cryptocurrency exchange Binance, alleging that the company has evaded taxes in four separate instances, according to a statement released by the agency on Monday.
According to the FIRS, the charges against Binance include the non-payment of VAT, company income tax, failure to file tax returns, and aiding and abetting the tax evasion of its customers via its platform.
The FIRS stated: “One of the counts in the lawsuit pertains to Binance’s alleged failure to collect and remit various categories of taxes to the federation as stipulated by Section 40 of the FIRS Establishment Act 2007 as amended,”
“Section 40 of the Act explicitly addresses the non-deduction and non-remittance of taxes, prescribing penalties and potential imprisonment for defaulting entities.”
The FIRS acknowledged that Nadeem Anjarwalla, Binance’s regional manager for Africa, is no longer in the custody of Nigerian authorities. However, the agency noted that it was aware of the matter and was working with authorities to resolve it.
According to the FIRS, two individuals connected to Binance, Tigran Gambaryan, the company’s head of financial crime compliance and a U.S. citizen, and Nadeem Anjarwalla, the company’s regional manager for Africa, were detained in Nigeria on February 26, following the country’s decision to ban a number of cryptocurrency trading websites. The FIRS noted that the two individuals were detained upon their arrival in the country and questioned by authorities.
At the time of filing this report, it is not clear how or when Anjarwalla was released from custody, or if any charges were brought against him. The case is ongoing and no further details have been released by the FIRS or other authorities. Meanwhile, Binance has not commented publicly on the tax charges or other developments related to the company’s operations in Nigeria.
In a recent announcement, Binance said that it will stop all transactions and trading in Nigeria’s local currency, the naira, on March 8, 2023. The decision was made in response to a country-wide crackdown on cryptocurrency exchanges that have been blamed for contributing to a black market for foreign exchange. Binance said that any remaining balances in naira will be automatically converted into Tether, a stablecoin that is pegged to the U.S. dollar.
