March 25, (THEWILL)- One of the two Binance executives detained by the Nigerian authorities for alleged tax evasion and other offences, Nadeem Anjarwalla, has escaped from custody .
Anjarwalla, the Binance’s Africa regional manager, was detained along with Tigran Gambaryan, a US citizen overseeing financial crime compliance at the crypto exchange platform.
According to Premium Times, Anjarwalla escaped on Friday, March 22, from the Abuja guest house where he and his colleague were detained after guards on duty led him to a nearby mosque for prayers in the spirit of the ongoing Ramadan fast.
The 38-year-old Briton, who also has Kenyan citizenship, is believed to have flown out of Abuja using a Middle East airliner.
THEWILL however gathered that Anjarwall fled Nigeria on a Kenyan passport.
An immigration officer who confirmed the development, said authorities were trying to determine how he obtained the passport, given that he had no other travel document (apart from the British passport) on him when he was taken into custody.
Earlier, the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) had filed criminal tax related charges against cryptocurrency firm, and the two executives.
The charges filed at the Federal High Court in Abuja, accused Binance of facilitated customer tax evasion.
Numbered, FHC/ABJ/CR/115/2024, the charges include non-payment of Value Added Tax (VAT); failure to file tax returns; non-payment of Company Income Tax (CIT) evasion and “aiding customer tax evasion”.
While the Government alleged that Binance’s operations violated established tax regulations in Nigeria, it claimed that the cryptocurrency platform did not register with the FIRS as required by law.
“The Federal Government also accused Binance of failure 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 alleged 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.
“Section 40 of the Act explicitly addresses the non-deduction and non-remittance of taxes, prescribing penalties and potential imprisonment for defaulting entities”, the FIRS said in a statement.
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