A court has set April 4, 2024 for the arraignment of Binance Holdings Limited and its officials, Tigran Gambaryan, and Nadeem Anjarwalla, who is currently on the run, for allegedly evading taxes.
The hearing notice containing the date was sent to the involved parties.
On Monday, the Federal Inland Revenue Service filed charges against the company and its officials for tax evasion.
The lawsuit, labeled FHC/ABJ/CR/115/2024, accused Binance of not registering with the FIRS to pay relevant taxes.
The FIRS also claimed that the company failed to issue invoices to subscribers for taxable services on its trading platform, which affected the determination and payment of value added taxes.
Additionally, the company and its executives were accused of not deducting necessary VATs from services offered on their trading platform for the buying and selling of cryptocurrencies and asset remittance.
FIRS also alleged that the defendants aided subscribers to unlawfully refuse or neglect tax payments while using their trading platform.
The offenses are punishable under the VAT Act of 1993 (as Amended), FIRS Establishment Act, 2007 (as amended), and Companies Income Tax Act (as amended).
On February 28, Financial Times reported that two company executives were arrested upon arrival in the country due to a ban on their website.
As of March 12, 2024, the FT reported that the EFCC requested Binance to share data on its top 100 users in Nigeria and six months' worth of transaction history.
This request is a focal point in the negotiations between Binance and Nigeria.
On Friday, one of the company’s executives, Nadeem Anjarwalla, fled the country after escaping from custody.
