Nigerian authorities have reportedly charged Binance with tax evasion, multiple local news outlets reported Monday.
The charges come after a tense few weeks between the exchange and the Nigerian government, which ended with two senior executives of the company being detained by authorities.
Local media is also reporting that one of the two executives has “escaped” and possibly left the country.
Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, has been charged with tax evasion by Nigerian authorities as a standoff between the two parties intensified in previous weeks, multiple local media outlets reported Monday, citing a statement from the country’s tax watchdog.
The charges were announced by the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and filed at the Federal High Court in Abuja with case number FHC/ABJ/CR/115/2024, one outlet reported. The exchange is being charged with four counts of tax evasion, including “non-payment of Value-Added Tax (VAT), Company Income Tax, failure to tax returns, and complicity in aiding customers to evade taxes through its platform.”
The news of tax evasion charges follows weeks of scrutiny and criticism of the crypto exchange by the Nigerian government, which went so far as to invite and then detain two Binance executives. The government says the platform processed billions of dollars worth of suspected criminal funds and set an exchange rate for the local currency, the naira.
Meanwhile, one of the two senior Binance executives being held by the government, Nadeem Anjarwalla, has escaped, Premium Times reported over the weekend, citing people familiar with the matter.
CoinDesk has contacted Binance for comment.
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