The CEO of cryptocurrency exchange Binance, Richard Teng, says that the company is working very closely with Nigerian authorities following the detention of the company’s Head of Financial Crime Compliance.
A Nigerian court has adjourned until May 2 a case against the executive, Tigran Gambaryan, and another Binance official, who are accused of laundering more than $35 million, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) said on April 8.
“What I can say is we are working very closely with the Nigerian authorities to try to resolve the matter,” CEO Richard Teng said, while speaking about Gambaryan’s case at a crypto conference in Dubai.
The other executive Nadeem Anjarwalla, a British-Kenyan who is a regional manager for Africa, fled Nigeria last month.
Anjarwalla and Gambaryan flew to Nigeria following the country’s decision to ban several cryptocurrency trading websites and were detained on arrival on February 26 by EFCC.
In addition to the case brought by the anti-graft agency, the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Nigeria’s tax agency, has charged Binance and the executives with tax evasion, a case that will be mentioned before a court Friday.
“This was a one-off. It’s never happened to us before,” Binance’s Head of Regional Markets, Vishal Sacheendran told newsmen on the sidelines of the Dubai conference when asked about the detentions.
Sacheendran declined to comment on the charges against the company.
