The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, Wednesday assured that due process would be applied in all stages of the trial of the chief executives of Binance.
Idris, who spoke through his Media Special Assistant, Rabiu Ibrahim, said Binance, who is the defendant, had received consular access and all due care following normal diplomatic protocols and the rule of law.
He noted that the judge in the case had sufficiently posited that bail was denied because of the flight risk, after a co-accused, now the subject of an Interpol warrant, illegally absconded.
“At all stages, due process has been followed, and prosecutors are confident of their case, based on the facts and evidence gathered. Binance will have every opportunity to defend itself in court against these severe charges of financial crimes against the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The next hearing is on June 20, 2024,” Idris said.
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Idris said it was important that Binance was prefaced as an entity whose representatives have been variously imprisoned, fined, sanctioned, and banned in North America, Europe, and Asia, in recent years.
“Changpeng Zhao, the billionaire co-founder and former CEO of Binance is currently serving a four-month prison sentence in the United States after being found guilty of money laundering, while Binance has openly accepted its role in facilitating terrorism, corruption, sanctions busting, and in aiding and abetting paedophile gangs.
“Law enforcement agencies believe Binance operations in Nigeria are part of a broader international pattern. It will be for the courts here, as in other jurisdictions, to hold the company and its executives accountable,” Idris said.
Earlier yesterday, lawmakers had accused Nigeria of taking a Binance Holdings Ltd. executive, Tigran Gambaryan, “hostage”, urging President Joe Biden to help secure his release.
Sixteen Republican congressmen, including Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee Michael McCaul, wrote to Biden to have the case of Gambaryan referred to the Office of the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs.
A US citizen, Gambaryan, is head of financial crime compliance at Binance and has been held in Abuja since April 2024.
Bloomberg reports that the lawmakers wrote in a June 4 letter, a copy of which it sighted, that: “The charges against Mr Gambaryan are baseless and constitute a coercion tactic by the Nigerian government to extort his employer.
“Following these charges, Mr Gambaryan qualifies as a ‘U.S. Citizen wrongfully detained by a foreign government”.
The face-off between Nigeria and the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange burst into view in February when Nigerian authorities detained Gambaryan and a colleague – who subsequently escaped – during a visit to discuss the company’s compliance issues with the country.
“After two rounds of meetings, which were described as starting professional and then becoming increasingly hostile, the government of Nigeria took Mr. Gambaryan hostage,” the lawmakers wrote.
Gambaryan was initially held at a guest house before formal charges were brought against him and Binance in an Abuja court in April.
He is accused. alongside the company, of charges including non-payment of value-added tax and corporate income tax, and complicity in aiding customers to evade taxes through its platform.
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