Forex Crisis: Court Orders Binance To Provide The EFCC With All User Data For All Nigerian Users
Binance Holdings Limited has been ordered by a federal high court in Abuja to give the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) complete information about any Nigerian who trades on its platform.
The presiding judge, Emeka Nwite, ruled on an ex parte motion filed on February 29 by the attorney for the EFCC, Ekele Iheanacho.
“The applicant's application dated and filed 29th February 2024, is hereby granted as prayed,” the judge held.
“That an order of this honourable court is hereby made directing the operators of Binance to provide the commission with comprehensive data/information relating to all persons from Nigeria trading on its platform.”
The ex-parte motion, marked:
FHC/ABJ/CS/259/2024, was brought pursuant to Sections 6(b), (h), (1), 7(1), (a)(2), and 38 of the Economic and Financial Crimes Establishment Act, 2004 and Section 15 of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022 (as amended) and the inherent powers of the court.
In the affidavit in support of the motion, Hamma Bello, an operative of the EFCC, said following the inauguration of the Technical Committee on Currency Stability and Forex Manipulation by the ONSA, the special investigation team (SIT) “received an intelligence stating the nefarious activities (money laundering and terrorism financing) on Binance, a cryptocurrency exchange platform.”
“The team uncovered users who have been using the platform for price discovery, confirmation and market manipulation which has caused tremendous distortions in the market, resulting in the Naira losing its value against other currencies.
“The damage the platform has caused was clearly explained to the operators of the platform and they were requested to delist the Naira and avail the ONSA on the activities of the Nigerians on their platform.
“The information afforded to the team by Binance shows that the total trading volume from Nigeria in 2023 alone stood at $21.6 (twenty-one billion, six hundred million dollars).
“Attached and marked as Exhibit EFCC 1 is a copy of the document from Binance to the ONSA stating this fact amongst others.
“That the commission will ensure that investigation is conducted within such reasonable time.”
“That the commission will ensure that investigation is conducted within such reasonable time.”
Bello declared that the topic was of the greatest urgent public interest and that the material will aid the panel in its probe.
He argued that because denying the request would severely obstruct the commission's investigation, approving the motion was in the best interests of justice.
President Bola Tinubu's special advisor on information and strategy, Bayo Onanuga, stated in February 2024 that Binance and other cryptocurrency platforms ought to be prohibited from operating in Nigeria.
Onanuga has charged Binance with assuming the job of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and “blatantly setting exchange rate for Nigeria.”
Olayemi Cardoso, the governor of the CBN, stated on February 27 that $26 billion came from sources that were not disclosed and went via Binance.
According to Cardoso, the top bank is working with security agencies and the Securities and currency Commission (SEC) to make sure the foreign currency (FX) market isn't manipulated.
The cryptocurrency company stopped accepting naira transactions on its exchange platform on March 8 in response to rumors that the government was demanding $10 billion from it for profiting from “its illegal transactions” in Nigeria.
In the meantime, Nigerian authorities have been holding two of Binance's top executives for weeks: Tigran Gambaryan, a 39-year-old US citizen who oversees financial crime compliance, and 37-year-old British-Kenyan Nadeem Anjarwalla, Binance's regional manager for Africa.
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