In reports, the House of Representatives has threatened to invoke its constitutional powers against Binance Holdings Limited following the failure of its executives to appear at its public hearing to respond to a series of allegations against the company. The House Committee on Financial Crimes had summoned the Managing Director of Binance, Richard Teng, in a letter dated 12th December 2023, signed by its chairman, Hon. Ginger Onwusibe, requesting an appearance at the hearing. Rather than the management team of the company appearing before the Committee, a team of lawyers was sent instead. However, the Committee told lawyers that their representations would not be accepted. Checks revealed that Binance Holdings Limited, operators of Digital Assets Exchange in Nigeria had been operating in Nigeria for over six years allegedly without any adherence to financial regulatory frameworks and has been accused of exploiting Nigerians and committing other financial crimes.
A coalition of civil society organizations led by the Niger Delta Youth Council Worldwide and the Empowerment for Unemployed Youths against Binance Holdings Limited had petitioned the Committee to scrutinize the firm’s activities. Onwusibe, while speaking at the public hearing yesterday, in Abuja, stated “The committee will be forced to recommend to the House to arrest Binance executives since they have failed to appear before the committee. Binance is not here. We have taken a position on it in our last sitting that we are not going to entertain legal representation from Binance and that position stands. Since Binance is not here. We need to make a recommendation to the House of Representatives for the House to invoke its powers of subpoena to issue a warrant for the leadership of Binance to be arrested and be brought to this Committee to answer questions about the grave allegations leveled against them in the petitions brought to us by the Empowerment for Unemployed Youths and Niger Delta Youths Council.
This Committee has resolved to recommend to the House to invoke its constitutional powers by issuing a subpoena and a warrant for Binance executives to be arrested and brought to this Committee to answer these questions regarding relationship financing of terrorism, money laundering, and other financial crimes as stated in the petition including evasion of tax.”
