Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court, Abuja yesterday adjourned to April the suit filed by the Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS) against Binance Holdings Ltd, demanding $79.5 billion for economic losses allegedly caused by the cryptocurrency’s operations in Nigeria.
According to NAN, the matter was adjourned the judge had attended to many cases before he went on recess.
The FIRS had in the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1444/2024, charged Binance, Tigran Gambaryan and Nadeem Anjarwalla to court.
In the originating summons dated and filed September 30, 2024, by Mr Kanu Agabi, the agency sought four questions for determination.
The FIRS prayed the court to determine “whether pursuant to Section 13(2) of the Companies Income Tax (CIT) Act Cap. C21, LFN, 2024 and Order (1)(a) and (c) of Companies Income Tax (Significant Economic Presence) Order 2020, the defendants are not liable to pay annual corporate income tax to the Federal Republic of Nigeria for having had significant economic presence in Nigeria from 2022 to 2023, among others.
The agency, therefore, sought nine reliefs should the court answer its questions in the affirmative.
It prayed the court to declare that pursuant to all relevant laws, the defendants are liable to pay annual corporate income tax to the Federal Government for having significant economic presence in the country.
It wanted the court to declare that Binance and its representatives are liable to file their income tax to the agency for the year 2022 and 2023 respectively from the time they began to exercise significant economic presence in Nigeria.
FIRS also sought a declaration that it is entitled, under Section 87(1) of the CIT Act Cap. C21, LFN, 2004; Sections 25(1) and 34(1) of the FIRS (Establishment) Act 2007, to recover from the defendants the cumulative sum of $2,001,000,000.00 being the amount due by way of income tax to the plaintiff from the defendants for 2022 and 2023 respectively.
It further prayed the court for a declaration that pursuant to Section 85(1) of the CIT Act Cap. C21, LFN, 2004 and Section 32(1) of the FIRS (Establishment) Act 2007, the defendants are liable to additional payment of 10 per cent per annum on the tax due but not paid for 2022 and 2023 respectively.
Based on the foregoing, FIRS therefore sought an order mandating the defendants to pay to the plaintiff the sums of $2,001,000,000.00 for year 2022 and for 2023, being the unpaid income tax due to the plaintiff from the defendants for the year 2022 and 2023 respectively.
It also sought an order mandating the defendants to pay to the plaintiff the 10% addition for non-payment of income tax for year 2022 and 2023 respectively.
It further prayed for order mandating the defendants to pay 26.75% interest rate being the prevailing Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) lending interest per annum from the 1st January, 2023 to 1st January, 2024 respectively when the tax become due and payable until it is fully paid.”
A member, special investigation team from the office of the national security adviser (ONSA), Mr Jimada Yusuf said in an the affidavit he deposed to that he and other officials of FIRS and other regulatory agencies, investigated Binance’s business activities in Nigeria.
Yusuf said the federal government discovered that Binance had been operating in Nigeria for over six years without registration.
According to him, this was allegedly confirmed by Gambaryan and Anjarwalla during a meeting with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in 2024.
He further claimed that in a letter dated February 20, 2024, Binance admitted to having 386,256 active users from Nigeria on its platform, with a trading volume of $21.6 billion and net revenue of $35.4 million for the calendar year 2023.
He accused company and its executives of multiple infractions, including offering financial services without the necessary licenses, operating without required permits, non-compliance with the money laundering Act, and providing currency speculation services without proper authorisation, etc.
Yusuf averred that Binance engaged in virtual asset service provider (VASP) activities in Nigeria, providing trading and custodial services to Nigerian users without proper registration with the relevant regulatory agencies, among others.
Meanwhile, the FIRS and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) are also prosecuting the cryptocurrency company in separate charges before Justice Emeka Nwite of the same court.
