The House of Representatives has denied demanding bribes from Binance, a popular cryptocurrency platform.
This follows a bribery allegation made by the Binance Chief Executive Officer, Richard Teng, in a blog post published by the New York Times on Tuesday.
Binance CEO Tuesday said some unidentified people in Nigeria were trying to make their troubles disappear by paying massive amounts in cryptocurrency.
The New York Times reported that the exchange’s compliance officer, Tigran Gambaryan had received a disturbing message on a trip to Nigeria in January: the company had 48 hours to pay about $150 million in crypto.
Teng said Binance held a meeting with the house committee on financial crimes.
“There were several reasons for that, including the sensitivity of the information and getting the opportunity to see the allegations in full and prepare a thorough substantive response,” he said.
“On January 8, Binance employees had a face-to-face meeting with three members of the HCFC and a clerk in Abuja at the House of Representatives building for a scheduled pre-hearing engagement in private.
“The meeting was chaired by the Honourable Peter Akpanke, the Honourable Philip Agbese, and the Honourable Peter Aniekwe, as well as a clerk.
“During the conversation, the Committee highlighted the important nature of the issues at hand and the lengths to which they were prepared to go to summon Binance, including issuing arrest warrants against our team and CEO and preventing our team from leaving the country.
“While concerning, it was understood that the HCFC does not in fact have the power to issue arrest warrants.
“The meeting ended with the Chair confirming they would consider the matter and revert through Binance’s local counsel.
“However, as our employees were leaving the venue, they were approached by unknown persons who suggested to them to make a payment in settlement of the allegations.
“Later that day, our local counsel — representing us at that time — was summoned by the Committee through someone purporting to be their agent, who relayed the Committee’s terms and instructed our local counsel to advise us.”
Kama Nkemkanma from Ebonyi state, during plenary on Wednesday, raised a “point of privilege”, noting the house never spoke to Binance, and they didn’t ask for a bribe.
“This house can never allow itself to be talked down,” he said.
The lawmaker said the allegation is capable of “bringing the house into disrepute” and should “never be taken lightly”.
The Speaker of the House, Tajudeen Abbas in his ruling said, the clerk should “take note”.
“We need to use whatever media available to us to refute this allegation.
“Nothing like that has ever happened. No committee of the house has ever engaged this man,” he said.
Recall that the prosecutor of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ekele Iheanacho, dismissed Teng’s claims with a vow to prosecute the case to the end.
Iheanacho, one of the lawyers prosecuting the Binance officials, said, “Nobody demanded any money, the case is being taken to a logical conclusion. He’s making it up although I am not aware of any such allegations. As far as I am concerned, the charges are going on and we are making every effort to ensure that we get to a logical end.”
Also, a top official in the ONSA, who is close to the probe, said, “Did he (Binance CEO) mention a name? Since he didn’t mention a name, why should anyone be worried? Why should anyone waste their time if somebody made an unfounded allegation but could not mention any name?”
