Binance Chief Executive Officer Richard Teng has called on the Nigerian government to release Tigran Gambaryan, the head of the Financial Crime and Compliance unit.
Gambaryan was detained after honouring the government’s invitation to discuss regulatory supervision. Teng made this appeal in a recent blog post, noting that the Nigerian government had held Tigran Gambaryan for over 70 days.
He added that this is the time for the global business community to discuss this matter. According to Teng, the Nigerian government’s invitation of mid-level employees for collaborative policy meetings only to detain them poses a “dangerous new precedent” for firms across the globe.
The Nigerian government invited Tigran Gambaryan and Nadeem ANjarwalla, Binance’s Africa regional manager in February for discussions on regulatory compliance. However, the government arrested the global exchange executives, seized their passports, and detained them immediately when they arrived the nation’s capital city, Abuja on February 26.
Following the detainment, the government charged Binance and its executives to court on four charges of tax evasion. Local media reported that the CBN governor, Olayemi Cardoso, claimed that the exchange facilitated hidden transactions worth several billions of naira, which negatively affected the instability of the Nigerian naira.
However, in March ending, Anjarwalla escaped from the authorities’ custody after the executives were taken to the mosque. He then fled from the country, and reportedly filed a lawsuit against the federal authorities, seeking the return of his passport, the release of his colleague, and a public apology from the authorities.
Binance also commented on the case, explaining that both executives are not the right officials to account for the information the Nigerian government demanded. Thus, the exchange appealed that the Nigerian government should release Gambaryan and drop all charges related to both him and Anjarwalla, as they are not the right individuals to provide the needed information.
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