The Federal High Court on Friday ordered Tigran Gambaryan, a 39-year-old American, and Nadeem Anjarwalla to flee the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) tax evasion case against cryptocurrency exchange platform Binance.

The judge, Justice Emeka Nwite, issued a brief ruling following a new amended complaint filed by the FIRS seeking notice from Binance regarding the appointment of a Nigerian representative by the name of Ayodele Omotilewa.

The FIRS had filed a complaint against cryptocurrency exchange platform Gambaryan and Nadeem on March 22, 2024 for alleged tax evasion.

On May 17, 2024, the FIRS amended its lawsuit alleging that Binance and Gambaryan had allegedly failed to collect and remit several categories of taxes to the federation, particularly the Value Added Tax (VAT) and the business income tax (CIT), as provided by Section 40 of the FIRS Establishment Act 2007, as amended.

Following an agreement between the legal teams on both sides, Judge Nwite further adjourned the case to June 14 for the arraignment of Binance and Gambaryan.

When the case was heard on Friday, Binance counsel TJ Krukrubo (SAN) told the court that his client had forwarded the name of his official representative to the FIRS and to the court.

Counsel to the FIRS, Moses Idehu, confirmed the same and sought leave from the court to replace all previous charges with the new amended charge dated June 13, 2024.

He told the court that the FIRS has “discontinued” the case against Gambaryan and Nadeem.

The new FIRS complaint now lists Binance as the sole defendant, implying that Gambaryan and Nadeem are no longer involved in the case.

The indictment accused trading platform Binance of offering services (in buying and selling cryptocurrencies and in remitting and transferring those assets) to Nigerians while failing to collect the necessary Value Added Tax (VAT) deduction resulting from his activities. .

Count four of the complaint reads: “That you Binance Holdings Ltd on or about February 1, 2024 at Abuja, FCT falls within the jurisdiction of this Honorable Court while engaged in offering services to subscribers on your trading platform known as Binance has aided and abetted those subscribers to your trading platform to unlawfully refuse to pay taxes or omit to pay taxes, thereby committing an offense contrary to and punishable under the provisions of Section 94 of the Companies Income Tax Act (as amended)”.

Idehu, however, urged the court to direct that the Binance representative from Nigeria enter the dock and make his plea on behalf of the company he represents.

Krukrubo and Gambaryan’s legal team argued that Nigerian law does not require a representative of a company being sued to stand in the dock and enter a plea.

They argued that a representative of a company taken to court may not have to attend the proceedings and may even write a letter to the court explaining the company’s position on an issue.

The defense has urged the court to dismiss Gambaryan and Nadeem from the FIRS case as a representative has been officially sent to the proceedings.

The FIRS also confirmed that the matter is now between the federal government and Binance.

Judge Nwite said that parties must file a written submission on whether Binance’s representative should be in the dock for him to decide on it, ruling that the “complaints filed on March 22, 2024 and May 17, 2024 are hereby struck out. .”

The judge also struck out the names of Gambaryan and Nadeem from the case and adjourned the case until July 12, 2024, to allow the defendants to enter their pleas.

He added that the parties’ lawyers should file suits on whether the Nigerian representative should be in the dock or not.

The federal government had accused the cryptocurrency exchange of influencing foreign exchange (FX) rates, resulting in increased scrutiny of crypto trading platforms.

The EFCC is separately prosecuting Binance and its executives for alleged money laundering and foreign exchange violations.

On February 28, 2024, Nigerian authorities arrested two senior Binance executives: Nadeem Anjarwalla, a 37-year-old British-Kenyan, who serves as regional manager for Africa, and Tigran Gambaryan, a 39-year-old American, who is the head of compliance at the area of ​​financial crime at Binance.

They were held for several weeks, but Nadeem fled from custody.

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