By Abiola Olawale
The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has ordered a top cryptocurrency company, Binance, to release comprehensive data of top persons trading on its platform to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The presiding judge, Justice Emeka Nwite, in his ruling, granted the interim order after ruling on the ex-parte motion moved by the EFCC’s lawyer, Ekele Iheanacho.
It was gathered that the order was granted to enable the EFCC’s investigation to unravel the allegations of money laundering and terrorism financing happening on the cryptocurrency platform.
“The applicant’s application dated and filed 29th February 2024, is hereby granted as prayed.
“That an order of this honorable 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 judge ordered.
The New Diplomat reports that the ruling followed an ex-parte motion, marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/259/2024, brought under Sections 6(b), (h), (I), 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 deposed to by Hamma Bello, an operative of the EFCC, he said he was attached to the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the commission domiciled in the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA).
Bello stated that, following the inauguration of the Technical Committee on Currency Stability and Forex Manipulation by the ONSA, the SIT “received an intelligence stating the nefarious activities (money laundering and terrorism financing) on Binance, a cryptocurrency exchange platform.
“That on receipt of the Intelligence, the team began an investigation by conducting surveillance of the activities of the platform,” he said.
“That 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.
“That 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.
“That from 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).”
It would be recalled that the Nigerian authorities earlier accused Binance of devaluing Nigeria’s official currency, the naira, and enabling illicit flow of funds. Nigerian authorities prompted Telecom providers to block access to Binance and other crypto exchanges.
Following the allegations, the federal government has also detained two top executives of Binance.
The two executives were detained following the breakdown of talks between Nigerian government officials and Binance, over alleged manipulations in foreign exchange trading and speculative activities.
