The Federal Government will on April 4 arraign Binance Holdings Limited and its two top officials: Tigran Gambaryan and fleeing Nadeem Anjarwalla, on allegations bordering on tax evasion.
Binance, Gambaryan, and Anjarwalla, listed as 1st to 3rd defendants respectively, are expected to be arraigned before Justice Emeka Nwite of a Federal High Court (FHC), Abuja on a four-count charge.
Anjarwalla, who had been in detention alongside Gambaryan, was said to have escaped from lawful custody. He escaped on Friday from the Abuja guest house where he and his colleague were detained.
Though the Federal High Court Easter vacation began on March 22 and will come to an end on April 8, the Chief Judge, Justice John Tsoho, directed the transfer of the Binance case file to Justice Nwite.
Although Justice Nwite is not a vacation judge, the chief judge granted the fiat for the judge to handle the case during vacation being a matter that concerns dire national interest.
Hearing notices had been related to the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), the prosecuting agency, and counsel to other parties for the defendants to take their plea.
The charges levelled against Binance include allegations of non-payment of Value-Added Tax (VAT), Company Income Tax, failure to file tax returns, and complicity in aiding customers to evade taxes through its platform.
Furthermore, the Federal Government accused Binance of neglecting to register with FIRS for tax purposes and contravening existing tax regulations within the country.
One of the counts in the lawsuit pertains to Binance’s purported failure to collect and remit various categories of taxes to the federation as stipulated by Section 40 of the FIRS Establishment Act 2007 as amended.
This section explicitly addresses the non-deduction and non-remittance of taxes, prescribing penalties, and potential imprisonment for defaulting entities.