Legal proceedings between Nigeria's Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and cryptocurrency exchange Binance have been postponed again. The court has delayed further hearings in the $2 billion tax evasion case until April 30, 2025, allowing the tax authority time to respond to legal objections raised by Binance.
Issues with Delivery of Court Documents
On April 7, Binance's legal counsel, Chukwuka Ikwuazom, challenged the legitimacy of how court documents were delivered. He argued that the order permitting the FIRS to serve legal documents to Binance via email was fundamentally flawed, since the exchange is incorporated in the Cayman Islands and does not maintain a physical office in Nigeria. According to Ikwuazom, Nigerian law requires special permission to serve court documents beyond the country’s borders—permission that, in this case, was allegedly never granted.
Nigeria's Tax Claims
The Nigerian tax authority initiated the lawsuit earlier this year, accusing Binance of failing to pay corporate income tax and demanding the exchange cough up $2 billion in back taxes. But the claims go much further. The FIRS is also pursuing $79.5 billion in damages, alleging that Binance’s operations helped destabilize the national currency, the naira, by facilitating speculative trading and capital flight. The FIRS is requesting that Binance be held accountable for taxes owed in 2022 and 2023, alongside a 10% annual penalty and a hefty 27% interest rate on unpaid taxes.
Political and Legal Tension
The case is layered with political and legal tension, especially in light of the arrests of two Binance executives earlier this year. Tigran Gambaryan, a U.S. citizen, was held for several months before being released in October after suffering serious health complications. His colleague, Nadeem Anjarwalla, made headlines when he escaped custody and fled to Kenya. Following these developments, Binance officially suspended naira transactions and exited the Nigerian market in March 2024.
The legal battle between FIRS and Binance continues to draw interest both locally and internationally. The next hearing date promises to be pivotal for the future of the case.
