Musings From Abroad

US lawmakers want release of Binance executive in Nigerian custody

Published

6 days ago

June 22, 2024

Due to his deteriorating health, two United States legislators have requested the US embassy in Nigeria to press for the release of Tigran Gambaryan, the executive of Binance who is currently imprisoned, on humanitarian grounds.

Gambaryan, the executive director of Binance, who oversees financial crimes compliance for Binance, has been detained since February on suspicion of money laundering.

Last Monday, the tax evasion accusations against him and the other officer, who escaped detention in Nigeria in March, were withdrawn.

During a visit to the West African nation on Thursday, Republican French Hill of the US House of Representatives and Democrat Chrissy Houlahan paid Gambaryan a visit at the Kuje prison in Abuja.

An Abuja court decided last month that Gambaryan, who is representing Binance, may go to trial in the case about tax evasion. Binance CEO Richard Teng had claimed that Nigeria was creating a dangerous precedent when its executives were invited to the nation and later jailed as part of an anti-crypto campaign. The business is fighting the proceedings because it allegedly launders money and avoids taxes.

“We have asked our embassy to advocate for a humanitarian release of Tigran because of the horrible conditions of the prison, his innocence and his health,” Hill said in a video he posted on social media site X, alongside Houlahan.

During the jail visit, according to Houlahan, they discovered that Gambaryan was living in substandard conditions and that “his health is not very good and he was also clearly under a lot of stress.” Gambaryan was previously reported by Binance to have pneumonia and malaria.

The money laundering trial for Gambaryan, who is accused of stealing, was postponed until July 1st. Gambaryan appeared in court on Friday.

Nigeria has laid the blame for its currency problems on Binance. The country’s currency sank to a record low as a result of persistent dollar shortages, and cryptocurrency websites became the preferred means of trading the naira.

Musings From Abroad

Kenya: US condemns violence as Ruto reverses tax law

Published

1 day ago

June 27, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

The violence in Kenya, where doctors reported that 23 people had died this week following violent battles between protesters and police, has been condemned by the United States.

William Ruto, the President of Kenya, backed down on Wednesday from his plans to raise taxes in response to protesters who had invaded parliament, started nationwide rallies, and threatened to take further action this week.

In the most critical crisis of Ruto’s two-year administration, the move will be viewed as a huge success for a week-old, youth-led protest movement that evolved from online condemnations of tax rises into large-scale marches seeking a political overhaul.

On social media, however, some protestors said that they would still go ahead with Thursday’s march despite Ruto’s backpedalling, with many of them restating their demands that he step down.

A day after violence between police and protestors at the assembly and across the country left at least 23 people dead and several others wounded, according to medics, Ruto declared he would not sign a finance measure that included the tax increases.

“The United States is deeply concerned about and we condemn the reported violence in all its forms,” White House national security spokesman John Kirby told reporters.

Shortly after MPs passed the tax proposals on Tuesday, police opened fire on crowds who had gathered around parliament and then broke into the assembly’s enclosure.

“The United States has been in touch with the Kenyan government to urge appropriate use of force by the police, to respect human rights … and we will continue to push for calm to prevail,” said Kirby.

Musings From Abroad

US intelligence warns of escalating insurgencies in West Africa following withdrawal from Niger

Published

1 day ago

June 27, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

American officials are cautioning that it is getting harder to keep an eye on the escalating insurgencies in West Africa as the United States military gathers what remains of its supplies and counterterrorism forces in Niger.

The military authorities of Niger have given the United States until September 15th to withdraw its forces from the nation. This includes closing a $100 million drone base close to Agadez in central Niger, which served as a vital source of intelligence regarding organizations associated with the Islamic State and al Qaeda.

“Our ability to monitor the threat is degraded because of the loss of Agadez,” one U.S. official told Reuters in an interview, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The expansion of the Islamic State and the al Qaeda affiliate Jama’a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin (JNIM) are of special worry to U.S. officials.

The main difficulty facing Michael Langley, the four-star Marine general in charge of American forces in Africa, is predicting when extremist organizations would develop to the point where they could pose a threat to the US or Europe.

“It has the potential (to become a threat to the United States) as they grow in numbers. But we want to be able to monitor … to see if it metastasizes into increased capability,” Langley said, speaking on the sidelines of a conference of African chiefs of defence in Botswana.

Experts warn that it won’t be simple, and some compare it to Afghanistan, where information about the Islamic State and al Qaeda is collected at a far lower level than it was prior to the withdrawal of the United States and the Taliban takeover in 2021.

“When we leave an area like the Sahel and Afghanistan, we not only cannot (act on) an immediate threat with military and intelligence forces, we don’t know about the plotting of an attack because of our reduced (intelligence) collection capabilities,” said Mick Mulroy, a former senior Pentagon official and CIA officer.