The federal government is asking Binance Holdings Limited to pay $79,514,055,594.40 and N231 million for economic losses allegedly caused by its operations in Nigeria.
In the suit filed by the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), it also asked the Federal High Court in Abuja for $2.0 billion in income tax for 2022 and 2023.
According to Nairametrics, the FIRS is also seeking the monies based on 10 per cent penalty for non-payment of income tax for 2022 and 2023, a 26.75 per cent interest rate—being the prevailing Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) lending rate per annum—from January 1, 2023, and January 1, 2024, respectively, among other charges.
The lawsuit alleged that Binance deliberately shrouded its business activities in secrecy despite having a “significant economic presence” in Nigeria.
The violations cited include breaches of Nigeria’s Companies Income Tax (CIT) Act, the Federal Inland Revenue Service (Establishment) Act 2007, the CBN Regulatory Framework for Mobile Money Services, and the CIT Significant Economic Presence (SEP) Order.
This is coming as the cryptocurrency exchange platform, along with two of its executives, Mr Tigran Gambaryan and Mr Nadeem Anjarwalla, are accused in this lawsuit of contravening Nigerian laws by failing to register with the FIRS for tax compliance and causing economic losses to the country during the period under review.
While Mr Anjarwalla is at large, Mr Gambrayan who recently left the custody of Nigeria after the duo were arrested by the Nigerian government last year alleged that top members in the Nigerian government sought bribes to settle the issue.
“At the House meeting, there were three members present. Two of them were Peter Akpanke and Philip Agbese, both working under the leadership of Ginger Obinna Onwusibe. There was a third House member, but I don’t recall his name.
“They set up fake cameras and media to make the meeting appear official, but the cameras weren’t even plugged in. As you may already know, this ended with them asking for a $150 million bribe, paid in cryptocurrency into their personal wallets. A Mickey Mouse operation at its best,” Mr Gambaryan wrote on X, formerly in Twitter.
