The House of Representatives has called for the arrest of the top executives of Binance Holdings Limited amidst serious allegations, including fraud, terrorism financing, money laundering, and tax evasion.
The cryptocurrency exchange platform has been specifically accused of actions leading to the depreciation of the Nigerian currency, the Naira, prompting legislative scrutiny.
During a session on Monday, the executives were expected to present themselves before the House Committee on Financial Crimes.
However, in a move that the committee found unsatisfactory, Binance chose to have their legal representatives attend in their stead.
This led to a stern response from the committee’s chairman, Obinna Ginger, who announced that a warrant for the arrest of the executives would be issued.
In defence, Binance’s counsel, Senator Ihenyen, clarified the absence of the company’s executives by revealing they were already in custody.
Ihenyen urged the committee to allow the company some time to make a formal appearance, citing that two top officials of Binance who had recently arrived in Nigeria were detained by the Office of the National Security Adviser.
He said, “Following the arrest of two executives, other persons could not come into Nigeria because they were afraid of arrest too. Binance has responded appropriately to the demands of the committee and as our client, we are pleading that this honorable committee consider taking the report.”
However, the committee’s chairman, Ginger, insisted that the Chief Executive of Binance Holding Limited, Richard Teng, must appear.
The committee had summoned Teng in a letter dated December 12, 2023.
Ginger, while restating the resolve of the committee to rid the country of financial crimes, said, “The committee will be forced to recommend to the House to arrest Binance executives since they have failed to appear before the committee.
“As long as the committee is concerned, Binance is not at this meeting because we have said severally that we do not want representation by lawyers but the chief executives should appear before us. Binance is not here. We have taken a position on it in our last sitting that we are not going to entertain legal representation from Binance and that position stands.
“Based on the fact that Binance is not here, we need to make a recommendation to the House of Representatives for the House to invoke its powers of subpoena to issue a warrant for the leadership of Binance to be arrested and be brought to this committee to answer questions of the grave allegations levelled against them in the petitions brought to us by the Empowerment for Unemployed Youths Initiatives and Niger Delta Youth Council.
“This committee has resolved to recommend to the House to invoke its constitutional powers by issuing a subpoena and a warrant for Binance executives to be arrested and brought to this committee to answer these questions relating to financing of terrorism, money laundering and other financial crimes as stated in the petition, including evasion of tax.”
