The Federal High Court in Abuja has cleared Tigran Gambaryan, a 39-year-old American, and Nadeem Anjarwalla of tax evasion charges against the cryptocurrency exchange platform Binance.
Emeka Nwite, the trial judge, issued the verdict after receiving information from Binance about the hiring of a Nigerian representative,
Ayodele Omotilewa. At the resumed proceedings on Friday, Binance counsel Tonye Krukrubo informed the judge that his client has sent the identity of its official representative to both the FIRS and the court.
Moses Idehu, counsel for the FIRS, verified the same and sought the court for permission to substitute all of the earlier charges with the current updated one dated June 13, 2024.
In FIRS’ revised accusation, Binance is now named as the only defendant, meaning that Gambaryan and Nadeem are no longer involved in the case, with the new Binance executive scheduled to enter a plea on July 12.
In the charge, the Binance trading platform was accused of providing services to Nigerians (such as buying and selling cryptocurrencies, as well as remitting and transferring such assets) while neglecting to deduct the applicable Value Added Taxes (VAT) from its activities.
However, Idehu requested the court to order the Binance representative from Nigeria to enter the dock and plead on behalf of the firm he represents. Krukrubo and Gambaryan’s legal team claimed that Nigerian law does not require a representative of a sued corporation to stand inside a dock and enter a plea.
They contended that a representative of a sued corporation is not required to attend proceedings and may even write a letter to the court expressing the company’s stance on a particular issue.
The defence took advantage of the situation and petitioned the court to release Gambaryan and Nadeem from the FIRS case because a representative had been duly dispatched to the hearing. The FIRS further acknowledged that the case is currently between the federal government and Binance.