“One of our dear colleagues, Tigran Gambaryan, continues to be detained by the Nigerian government for more than 70 days. I also think it is time to raise this issue on behalf of the global business community. A company inviting mid-level employees to cooperative policy meetings and then arresting them,” Teng wrote in his blog post. , sets a dangerous precedent for companies around the world.” he said.

The government of Africa’s most populous country is struggling with an economic crisis, with its currency falling to a record low against the dollar in March and inflation rising to 33.2%, a 28-year peak. In February, Nigerian Central Bank Governor Olayemi Cardoso said Binance hurt tax revenues by allowing $26 billion in funds to leave the country without a trace last year.

Teng stated in his article that Binance has been trying to contact the country’s Securities and Exchange Commission since 2022 to clarify licensing requirements, but has not received a response to its attempts.

According to Teng, Gambaryan and Nadeem Anjarwalla, the exchange’s regional manager for Africa, were arrested in February after flying into the country for a meeting with the SEC CEO, deputy central bank governor and national security adviser.

According to Teng’s statement, the managers were first kept in a secure area. Anjarwalla made headlines in March when he escaped from custody. Gambaryan, who is currently arrested on money laundering charges, is being held in Kuje prison, where members of the Boko Haram terrorist organization are also located, after the Abuja court postponed his bail hearing to May 17. Both filed lawsuits against Nigerian authorities for violating their human rights.

Gambaryan was offered nearly $150 million in cryptocurrency bribes by “unidentified individuals” from the Nigerian government during his January visit, The New York Times reported, citing five people he knew and messages it reviewed.

In his blog post, Teng mentioned the request from “unidentified persons” without mentioning the amount. According to NYT, Gambaryan informed people in the Nigerian government and described his request for payment in a three-page report to Binance’s lawyers.

“Our team became increasingly concerned about their safety in Nigeria and left immediately. Of course, through our lawyers, we rejected the request for payment, seeing it as an illegitimate settlement offer…” Teng said.

In the latest move against cryptocurrency after Nigeria accused Binance of manipulating the local exchange rate, tax evasion and money laundering, individual cryptocurrency trading in Naira will be banned, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday.

According to the report, the Director General of the Nigerian Securities and Exchange Commission, Emomotimi Agama, announced this decision at a meeting with fintech professionals on Monday.

“It is necessary to remove the Naira from the P2P space to prevent the level of manipulation currently experienced. The recent perceived influence of crypto P2P investors on the Naira exchange rate shows that collective action is needed,” Agama said. said.

Agama also said new rules that will cover cryptocurrency exchanges, digital asset custodians and other corners of the industry will come into effect “in the coming days.” Teng stated in his blog post that Gambaryan and Anjarwalla were arrested on February 26 and “aggressive behavior was displayed against them over the next 24 hours.” On February 28, he wrote, “We removed Naira from the trading pair on the Binance platform and closed the P2P product for Nigeria” and requested “immediate passage to the airport” for executives.