Nigeria Slams Binance CEO’s Bribery Claims as ‘Baseless Diversion

Nigerian authorities have, dismissed the accusation leveled at the government by the Binance’s CEO, Richard Teng, of soliciting a $150 million cryptocurrency compensation to halt a criminal probe against the exchange. Rabiu Ibrahim, the Nigerian Ministry for Communications’ spokesperson, disregarded the allegations as having no grounds. He said they were another tactic to divert attention from Binance activities within Nigeria.

Binance CEO Teng’s allegations

Teng claimed in his blog that top officials in Nigeria were demanding a huge cryptocurrency payment to finally end the ongoing legal tussles regarding the company’s activities in the country. 

The situation grew more vivid, and the fight between the exchange and Nigerian authorities culminated in the detainment of these Binance employees in Nigeria. the authority failed to detain the most suspicious employee while another guy managed to escape the charges by the exchange compliance officer’s, Tigran Gambaryan, name was detained on charges of tax evasion, foreign exchange speculation, and money laundering and still suffer from many problems. The proceedings Gambaryan’s case will begin in mid-November. 

International Implications

Teng’s accusations are wide-ranging. It was a real issue that Binance has been prosecuted in many countries, like the US in particular. The government of Nigeria’s refusal to acknowledge these account allegations indicates the multidimensional global regulatory pressure on crypto exchanges, principally the anti-money laundering and evasion of tax regulations.

Binance’s Response has  not yet to given any comment on the allegations of Binance bribery from Nigeria. The absence of comments is an issue, as it provides space for different kinds of speculations. Hence, it remains unclear about what the exchange’s next actions might be in order to resolve the conflicts with Nigerian authorities.

The scrutiny of Nigeria on the topic of crypto follows growing worries on the part of the government for the role of crypto as a digital instrument of speculative activities against the country’s Nigerian Naira, due to the naira devaluation that registered the symbolic magnitude.