Nigerian government has strongly rejected Binance bribery allegations, Bloomberg reports.
Nigerian government has strongly rejected Binance bribery allegations, Bloomberg reports.
Rabiu Ibrahim, spokesperson for the Ministry of Information, has stated that Binance CEO Richard Teng made false statements, describing them as a “diversionary tactic.”
On Tuesday, Tang urged the Nigerian government to release Tigran Gambaryan, the crypto giant’s chief compliance officer.
Gambaryan, a US citizen, was arrested in February on charges of money laundering and tax evasion. He was detained along with Nadeem Anjarwalla, Binance’s regional manager in Africa. Anjarwalla managed to escape from custody, but Gambaryan remains behind bars. The latter is currently awaiting trial, which is scheduled to begin in June.
According to a BBC report, the Nigerian government also wanted Binance to pay a whopping $10 billion fine, accusing the cryptocurrency giant of causing an economic crisis in the country with currency manipulation. In March, Binance removed the Nigerian naira from its peer-to-peer platform.
Earlier this week, the New York Times published an explosive report detailing how someone in the Nigerian government demanded a $150 million bribe from Binance. The bribe would allow allegations against Binance to be resolved, which include allegations of bribery.
In his statement, Teng claims that Binance rejected the payment demand through his lawyer because it was not a legitimate settlement offer.
