A lawyer representing the detained executives of Binance, a cryptocurrency exchange platform, in Nigeria, Senator Ihenyen has explained why his client could not attend the invitation of The House of Representatives.
The National Assembly on Monday agreed to issue warrants of arrest against executives of cryptocurrency platform, Binance.
This decision came after a resolution was passed to that effect by the House of Representatives Committee on Financial Crimes during a hearing on a petition brought against the crypto firm.
This lawmakers’ resolution is coming after the Nigerian government had taken a series of actions to clampdown the operation of the giant cryptocurrency trading company.
The company is also facing allegations of terrorism financing, money laundering and tax evasion, among others.
In response to these developments, Binance counsel, Senator Ihenyen, stated that the executive could not appear since they were in detention.
Ihenyen urged the committee to give the firm enough time to appear before it, pointing out that two top Binance executives who arrived in the nation last week were apprehended by the Office of the National Security Adviser.
“Following the arrest of two executives, other persons could not come into Nigeria because they were afraid of arrest too. Binance has responded appropriately to the demands of the committee and as our client, we are pleading that this honorable committee consider taking the report,” said.
However, the committee’s chairman, Ginger, insisted that the Chief Executive of Binance Holding Limited, Mr Richard Teng, must appear.
The committee had summoned Teng in a letter dated December 12, 2023.
Ginger, while restarting the committee’s intention to cleanse the country of financial crimes, stated, “The committee will be forced to recommend to the House that Binance executives be arrested because they have failed to appear before the committee.”
The Senator continued as quoted by PUNCH: “As long as the committee is concerned, Binance is not at this meeting because we have said severally that we do not want representation by lawyers but the chief executives should appear before us. Binance is not here. We have taken a position on it in our last sitting that we are not going to entertain legal representation from Binance and that position stands.
“Based on the fact that Binance is not here, we need to make a recommendation to the House of Representatives for the House to invoke its powers of subpoena to issue a warrant for the leadership of Binance to be arrested and be brought to this committee to answer questions of the grave allegations levelled against them in the petitions brought to us by the Empowerment for Unemployed Youths Initiatives and Niger Delta Youth Council.
“This committee has resolved to recommend to the House to invoke its constitutional powers by issuing a subpoena and a warrant for Binance executives to be arrested and brought to this committee to answer these questions relating to financing of terrorism, money laundering and other financial crimes as stated in the petition, including evasion of tax.”