The Federal High Court in Abuja gas announced that it will commence legal proceedings against Binance officials Tigran Gambaryan and Nadeem Anjarwalla on Thursday.
Both Gambaryan and Anjarwalla are facing two separate charges from Justice Emeka Nwite.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) put forward the first charge which involved money laundering with five counts.
The second charge was also attempted by the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) attesting to four counts regarding several tax offences.
Anjarwalla, who escaped detention on 22 March, will be tried in absentia before Justice Nwite.
On 28th of March, The EFCC’s indictment contains a $35,400,000 allegation of money laundering against Binance executives.
In count one, it is alleged that from January 2023 through January 2024 at Abuja they were engaged in specialized activities akin to those of financial institutions without authority as required by law.
It asserts that this is contrary to Sections 57(1) and (2) of BOFIA 2020 with its penalties provided for under Section 57(5).
Within the parameters of the BOIFA 2020, particularly sections 57(1) and (2), EFCC claims that this behavior is in breach of Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act.
According to the FIRS’s indictment, FHC/ABJ/CR/115/2024 dated March 22 indicates that these offenders are said to have committed an offense between February 1 of this year.
The head count charges defendants with failure to register with FIRS for tax purposes while providing services on Binance platform.
FIRS further states that this conduct is punishable under Section 8 &29 of VAT (as amended) Act No.102 LFN 2007, Sec.40 of the FIRS Establishment Act, 2007 as amended, and Section 94 provisions of CITA (as amended).
On March 18th earlier, Nwite J., ordered that Binance shall provide EFCC with comprehensive information about all Nigerian traders in its system.
This was part of a ruling on motion ex-parte by the EFCC Counsel Ekele Iheanacho who sought orders authorizing the Commission to investigate allegations bordering on money laundering and terrorism financing purportedly taking place through Binance’s platform.