House of Representatives Committee on Financial Crimes has ordered the immediate arrest of the Chief Executive of Binance Holding Limited, Richard Teng and Management, for failure to appear before the committee.
Chairman of the Committee, Hon. Ginger Onwusibe issued the warrant of arrest on Monday during a hearing on a petition brought against the crypto firm following failure to defend its alleged involvement in terrorism financing and money laundering.
“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.
“Based on the fact that 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 of the grave allegations levelled against them in the petitions brought to us by the Empowerment for Unemployed Youths and Niger Delta youths Council,” Onwusibe said.
This came as the CEO and management of the cryptocurrency platform yet again failed to appear before the committee but instead sent one Senator Ihengen, the company’s legal representative.
This is the latest in a series of clampdowns against the company by the Nigerian government.
Federal Government reportedly arrested two Binance executives over alleged money laundering and terror financing.
The Chairman of the Committee, Obinna Ginger ruled that the Committee would recommend to the larger House for the executives of Binance to be arrested.
He explained that the warrant of arrest is to ensure that the executive appears before the lawmakers.
Senator Ihenyen, the lawyer to Binance, appeared before the Committee on behalf of his client and presented a written address, however, the lawmakers rejected his representation.
Ihenyen said the board of the company is scared of coming to Nigeria over the fear of further arrest by the government.
