The Nigerian commission said Teng would be forced to invoke his constitutional rights if he ignored the subpoena again.
Binance is in trouble in Nigeria after reaching a settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). According to local news reports, the Financial Crimes Committee of the Nigerian House of Representatives issued a final notice to Binance CEO Richard Teng on Friday.
Committee chairperson Ginger Onwusibe asked Teng to attend the hearing before March 4. The summons was for alleged involvement in financial crimes such as money laundering and financing of terrorism.
Onwusibe warned that if Teng failed to appear at the summons, the commission would have to invoke its constitutional powers and take appropriate measures.
Binance pleaded guilty to money laundering and terrorism financing charges after its US plea deal was approved by a judge. The exchange also agreed to pay a historic fine of $4.3 billion and accept supervision.
Binance is uncooperative with Nigerian committee
In a Dec. 12 letter shortly after Binance’s U.S. plea deal was announced, the committee first requested that Binance’s managing director appear at a Dec. 18 hearing. Binance was asked to inform the committee about Binance’s disregard for Nigerian laws.
The Nigerian committee issued the ultimatum after Binance declined multiple invitations to address the committee in the past. Onwusibe said:
“The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria entrusts us with protecting Nigerian users from financial crime, especially from foreign companies...The allegations of terrorism financing, money laundering and tax evasion against Binance are shocking enough.”
Onwusibe said the commission was determined to combat financial crime and "block the channels for financing terrorism, and no amount of interference or manipulation can stop us".
The commission is also trying to collect as much tax as possible as Nigeria slides into recession.
According to Onwusibe, Binance serves more than 10 million Nigerian users on its platform. However, the exchange does not pay any taxes in the country. At the same time, Binance does not have a physical presence in Nigeria for users to lodge complaints.
Onwusibe added:
"The era of exploitation is over and all criminals must be punished."
Binance’s woes in Nigeria are escalating
Last week, the country’s telecoms regulator, the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC), ordered telecoms companies to block access to the websites of foreign cryptocurrency exchanges, including Binance, Coinbase and Kraken.
According to a report by DLNews, on February 26, Nigeria’s national security agency detained two Binance executives and confiscated their passports in an investigation into Binance’s case.
According to the BBC, Nigeria’s Central Bank Governor Olayemi Cardoso said that Binance Nigeria witnessed “suspicious fund flows” in 2023.
He said: “As far as Binance is concerned, in the past year alone, US$26 billion has flowed out through Binance Nigeria, and some of the sources and users of the funds have not been fully identified by us.”
On Friday, the BBC reported that the Nigerian government had ordered Binance to pay $10 billion in compensation. The report also stated that the government believes that Binance and its executives have manipulated foreign exchange rates through currency speculation and currency manipulation.
In the same report, a Binance spokesperson said that while the exchange is in talks with the government to “resolve the issue,” it has not yet been told to pay the $10 billion fine. In the same report, special adviser Bayo Onanuga said his comments to the BBC were misinterpreted and that he never said the government had finalized the fine amount or that Binance knew about it. #币安 #尼日利亚