Nigeria’s federal government on Monday initiated criminal proceedings against leading cryptocurrency exchange platform, Binance accusing the firm of evading taxes.
The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) announced the charges filed at the Federal High Court in Abuja, accusing Binance, along with senior executives Tigran Gambaryan and Nadeem Anjarwalla, of various tax offenses.
These include failure to pay Value-Added Tax (VAT) and Company Income Tax, as well as not filing tax returns and allegedly aiding customers in evading taxes through its platform.
The government also claims that Binance failed to register with FIRS for tax purposes and violated existing tax regulations in the country.
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“Any company that transacts business in excess of N25 million annually is deemed by the Finance Act to be present in Nigeria. According to this rule, Binance falls into that category. So, it has to pay taxes like Company Income Tax (CIT) and also collect and pay Value Added Tax (VAT). But Binance did not do this properly. So, the company broke Nigerian laws and could be investigated and taken to court for this infraction,” Dare Adekanmbi, a spokesperson to the Revenue Authority is reported to have said in a statement.
Read Also: Nigeria Detains Binance Executives, Slams Company with $10 Billion Fine
This development follows earlier negotiations between Binance executives and Nigerian authorities, which culminated in their detention and subsequent legal proceedings. Binance’s non-compliance with court directives regarding providing user data further extended the legal process.
These events come after Binance admitted guilt and agreed to a multi-billion-dollar settlement for criminal money laundering charges in the United States, with its CEO pledging to step down.
