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Nigeria’s Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has taken legal action against crypto giant Binance for alleged tax evasion. On March 25, the FIRS filed a criminal charge before the federal high court in Abuja, accusing Binance of multiple counts of tax evasion. Details of the charges were captured in local media, TheCable.
The lawsuit, designated as suit number FHC/ABJ/CR/115/2024, implicates Binance alongside two senior executives, Tigran Gambaryan and Nadeem Anjarwalla. According to the report, these Binance executives are currently in the custody of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The charges against Binance include failure to pay value-added tax (VAT), company income tax, failure to file tax returns, and complicity in aiding customers to evade taxes through its platform. Additionally, Binance is accused of failing to register with the FIRS for tax purposes and contravening existing tax regulations within the country.
The FIRS highlighted specific instances where Binance allegedly violated tax laws. It included failing to issue invoices for VAT purposes and hindering subscribers’ determination and payment of taxes.
Notably, this legal action follows recent accusations by the federal government of Nigeria against Binance for manipulating foreign exchange rates. The development led Binance to discontinue all NGN-related activities, including banning NGN/USDT trades on its P2P platform.
In February, Nigerian authorities detained the two top executives of Binance and summoned Binance CEO Richard Teng. In subsequent developments, a federal high court in Abuja ordered Binance Holdings Limited to provide the EFCC with comprehensive data on all Nigerian traders on its platform.
Meanwhile, Olayemi Cardoso, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, has claimed that $26 billion of “illicit funds” have passed through Binance Nigeria within the last year, a claim the exchange has disputed.
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