VenturesNow

One of the two arrested Binance executives reportedly escapes from custody in Nigeria

Published

1 month ago

March 25, 2024

One of the two executives of the exchange platform, Binance has escaped from detention in Nigeria according to sources cited by Premium Times.

The 38-year-old Nadeem Anjarwalla, who was detained in Nigeria for alleged tax evasion and other offences, escaped on Friday, 22 March, from the Abuja guest house where he and his colleague were detained after guards on duty led him to a nearby mosque for prayers in the spirit of the ongoing Ramadan fast.

On February 26, 2024, upon their arrival in Nigeria, Mr Anjarwalla, the regional manager for Binance in Africa, and Tigran Gambaryan, a US citizen in charge of financial crime compliance at the cryptocurrency exchange platform, were taken into custody.

The two executives were charged with a crime in an Abuja Magistrate Court. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) was permitted by the court on February 28, 2024, to remand the two individuals for 14 days. The Nigerian government was also required by the court to receive data and information about Nigerians who trade on Binance’s platform.

Even though Mr. Anjarwalla entered Nigeria using a British passport that is currently in the possession of Nigerian authorities, it is still unknown how he was able to board a foreign flight. According to an immigration official, the Binance executive used a Kenyan passport to leave Nigeria. Given that he was only carrying the British passport when he was apprehended, he claimed that police were attempting to ascertain how he got the passport.

The CBN governor informed reporters last month that Binance is under investigation in Nigeria due to “suspicious flows” of cash through Binance Nigeria in 2023. Government organizations such as the Securities and Trade Commission of the nation are already wary of the cryptocurrency trade.

Crypto exchanges in Nigeria are viewed with mistrust, according to CBN head Olayemi Cardoso. “We are concerned about certain practices that suggest illicit flows passing through several of these entities—flows that are, at most, suspicious,” he stated to the local media on February 27.

“In the case of Binance, in the last year alone, $26bn has passed through Nigeria from sources and users who we cannot adequately identify,” Cardoso said.

Over the last three months, the Nigerian government has been taking strong action against individuals it believes are financing terrorism and money laundering, some of whom it claims are utilizing the Binance platform for illicit purposes.

VenturesNow

Nigeria received $1bn tax income from Shell in 2023

Published

9 hours ago

May 8, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

Shell Nigeria, a multinational oil company, claims that through the operations of Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited and Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company of Nigeria Limited, it exclusively paid $1.09 billion in corporate taxes and royalties to the Nigerian government in 2023.

According to the numbers released in the recently released 2023 Shell Briefing Notes, SNEPCo remitted $649 million, while the SPDC paid $442 million.

Similar payments made by the two firms in 2022 totalled $1.36 billion, according to a statement from Abimbola Essien-Nelson, the company’s manager of media relations.

“These payments are Shell exclusive and do not include those made by our partners,” said SPDC Managing Director and Country Chair, Shell Companies in Nigeria, Osagie Okunbor.

Okunbor explained, “Shell companies in Nigeria will continue to contribute to the country’s economic growth through the revenue we generate and the employment opportunities we create by supporting the development of local businesses.”

He continued by saying that Shell has been an investor in Nigeria for more than 60 years and that the Briefing Notes provide an update on the state of the companies’ operations in Nigeria for 2023, including SPDC, SNEPCo, Shell Nigeria Gas, and Daystar Power.

He claimed that the studies demonstrated how the businesses kept driving advancement, collaborating closely with communities and stakeholders to support socio-economic growth and offer more affordable, environmentally friendly energy options.

“It is important to emphasise that Shell is not leaving Nigeria and will remain a major partner of the country’s energy sector through its deep-water and integrated gas businesses. Our collective focus remains on delivery of safe operations and care for our people,” Okunbor maintained.

VenturesNow

Zimbabwe’s new gold-backed currency now official unit of exchange

Published

22 hours ago

May 7, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

Zimbabwe’s Treasury says that the newly introduced gold-backed currency is the official unit of exchange for transactions. It also stated on Tuesday that laws requiring businesses to utilize the official rate would be released soon.

The Zimbabwe Gold (ZiG) has been stable on the official market since its inception in early April, but it has had a shaky start on the black market, where dealers are demanding a premium of 65% of the official rate to purchase dollars.

Additionally, some stores are charging customers who pay in the new currency—while the ZiG is being rejected by informal traders—a premium over the market rate, which is fixed at ZiG 13.6 per US dollar.

“To ensure orderly pricing, the Government will soon be introducing the necessary regulations to ensure that no exchange rate other than the official rate will be used for the pricing of all goods and services,” Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube said in a statement.

Since the ZiG’s inception, the government has been working to keep it afloat; this month, officials launched a campaign against unlicensed foreign exchange dealers.

Zimbabwe, located in southern Africa, abandoned the Zim dollar last month after it lost 70% of its value since the beginning of the year. This is the country’s fourth effort to introduce a local currency in ten years.