FG arraigns Binance top officials over tax evasion
The Federal Government of Nigeria has arraigned Binance Holdings Limited and its two top officials, Tigran Gambaryan and the fleeing Nadeem Anjarwalla, on allegations bordering on tax evasion.
The company and its two executives were arraigned before Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court, Abuja.
One of the defendants, Tigran Gambaryan, arrived at the court at 9:15 am on Thursday while his colleague, Anjarwalla was absent as he was said to be on the run.
The Federal High Court is still observing its Easter vacation and the trial judge is not a vacation judge but the Chief Judge of the court, Justice John Tsoho, granted the fiat that Justice Nwite handled the case, being a matter of dire national interest.
The defendants are facing a five-count charge of money laundering, and operating specialised businesses in Nigeria without a license.
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In the suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CR/115/2024, Binance was accused of failing to register with the FIRS for the purpose of paying all relevant taxes administered by the service.
The FIRS also alleged that while it was offering taxable services to subscribers on its trading platform, the company failed to issue invoices to the subscribers for the purposes of determining and payment of its Value Added Taxes.
The matter was adjourned to April 19 following the FIRS’ inability to serve Gambaryan the charges in EFCC custody.
The alleged money laundering case instituted by the EFCC is underway.
