Scheduled for April 4, 2024, the arraignment of Binance Holdings Limited, along with its officials Tigran Gambaryan and the fugitive Nadeem Anjarwalla, who are facing allegations of tax evasion, has been confirmed.
The hearing notice containing the date was dispatched to all concerned parties.
The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) recently lodged charges related to tax evasion against the company and its executives.
In the case with the reference number FHC/ABJ/CR/115/2024, Binance is accused of failing to register with the FIRS for the purpose of meeting tax obligations administered by the service.
The FIRS also claimed that despite providing taxable services to customers on its trading platform, the company didn’t provide invoices to these customers for VAT purposes.
Moreover, the company and its executives allegedly failed to deduct VATs while engaging in services like cryptocurrency trading and asset remittance on their platform, as stipulated by tax laws.
FIRS additionally accused the defendants of facilitating subscribers on their platform to evade or neglect tax payments while offering services, a violation punishable under various tax laws.
According to the Financial Times article from February 28, two company executives were arrested and detained upon arrival in the country due to a website ban.
Furthermore, on March 12, 2024, the EFCC requested Binance to provide data on its top 100 users in Nigeria and all transaction records from the past six months.
This request forms a pivotal part of ongoing negotiations between Binance and Nigerian authorities.
Recently, one of the company executives, Nadeem Anjarwalla, managed to flee the country after escaping from safe custody.