Nigerian court postpones detained Binance official’s hearing

The court has postponed the hearing for a Binance official detained in Nigeria on allegations of tax evasion to April 19. 

According to Bloomberg, this decision came during the executive’s initial court appearance.

Tigran Gambaryan, who leads Binance’s efforts against financial crime, faces accusations including failure to pay taxes such as value-added and corporate income taxes. 

Gambaryan is also charged with helping customers use Binance’s platform to bypass tax obligations. He will stay under the supervision of Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission. The court has also delayed Binance’s session until April 8.

Another high-ranking official from Binance, Nadeem Anjarwalla, who was detained with Gambaryan, left Nigeria last month. Both men visited Nigeria in late February, following an invitation from Nigerian authorities to discuss cryptocurrency operations after the government targeted crypto exchanges to curb currency speculation.

Nigeria, the country with the largest population in Africa, has seen a surge in cryptocurrency adoption as the local currency sharply declined over the past year. The price increase then led to governmental restrictions on crypto exchanges.