By Wisdom Nwedene
House Of Reps Member, Honourable Ginger Onwusibe has denied demanding bribe from Binance Chief, Mr Tigran Gambaryan and revealed that the case with the Binance over defamation is already in court.
The House of Rep MembeMember, Mr Obe made this known in a statement made available to IGBERE TV on Saturday.
Hon. Ginger Onwusibe
Recall that the Binance chief, during his detention, mentioned that some lawmakers demanded bribes from him to stave off his arrest and prosecution.
On Friday, he named the suspects in a post on X (formerly Twitter). He named the suspects as Peter Akpanke, Philip Agbese and Ginger Obinna Onwusibe.
Meanwhile, Hon. Onwusibe on Saturday said “when issues are before a Court of Law, it is not advisable to comment or ventilate them in the media, particularly by parties to the action.”
Mr Onwusibe, however, stated that the House of Representatives Committee on Financial Crimes scheduled a Public Hearing having received petitions alleging crimes and infractions in breach of extant Nigerian Laws and Regulations against Binance, similar to those for which they have been held accountable in other jurisdictions.
He said Notwithstanding offering every opportunity of Fair Hearing to Biance, including agreeing to hold a pre-Hearing meeting at their instance to offer them full details of the allegations against them, Binance failed, neglected and refused to attend the Public Hearing fixed by the Committee for the 10th day of January 2024 and on subsequent adjourned dates agreed with their Counsel.
The statement reads info full,
“My attention has been drawn to the publication/post by one Mr. Tigran Gambaryan, Head, Financial Crime Compliance of BINANCE, a Block Chain Digital Asset Exchange, on his X (formerly twitter) handle/page today, Friday the 14th day of February 2025. I have been inundated by thousands of phone calls, WhatsApp and SMS messages as well as physical visits by colleagues and others at the National Assembly. My attention was similarly drawn to a publication in the NPR media website, titled “THE ‘CRYPTO WIZARD’ VS. NIGERIA” published on February 11, 2025 written by Dina Temple-Raston, Nick Fountain, Jess Jiang, Emma Peaslee and Sean Powers as well as another publication in the WIRED media website titled “THE UNTOLD STORY OF A CRYPTO CRIMEFIGHTER’S DESCENT INTO NIGERIA PRISON” published on February 10, 2025 written by Andy Greenberg all of which contained very damaging, false, malicious and defamatory accusations against me.
Initially, I took the decision not to respond because the issues raised in the said publications are SUBJUDICE being subject of a Court action initiated by me against Binance and their Managing Director/CEO, Mr. Richard Teng which is pending before a High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
As the public and gentlemen of the Press well know, when issues are before a Court of Law, it is not advisable to comment or ventilate them in the media, particularly by parties to the action. Our Courts and other institutions must be afforded the highest respect. For this reason, I will be giving only a limited response which will not go into the merits or details of the issues which are already being adjudicated by a Court of competent jurisdiction. Furthermore, I am mindful of the fact that to the average Nigerian, silence is not golden but rather, an admission and failure to at least give a general rebuttal will be assumed to be admission of the falsehoods in said publications as they relate to me.
BRIEF FACTS OF THE MATTER.
1. In December 2023, my committee received a Petition from a CSO/NGO, the Empowerment for Unemployed Youth Initiative alleging multiple financial and economic crimes and irregularities perpetrated by Binance against the Nigerian economy and State.
2. Upon receipt of the said Petition, we wrote to Mr. Richard Teng who is the Managing Director/CEO of Binance, inviting him to appear before the Investigative/Public Hearing set up by the Committee to investigate the allegations bordering on breach and non-compliance by Binance with extant Laws and Regulations related to their operations in Nigeria.
3. Binance and Mr. Teng through their representatives contacted the Committee, in order to agree on a convenient date for them to appear and testify at the Investigative/Public Hearing and the 10th day of January 2024 was agreed as a convenient date for a Public Hearing on the matter.
4. Before the agreed date of the 10th day of January 2024 when the Public Hearing was scheduled to hold, Binance reached out to the Committee to request for a pre-Hearing meeting which will afford them an opportunity to gain deeper insight into details of the allegations against them in order to assist them in preparing for the Investigative/Public Hearing. The Committee conceded the request by Binance and scheduled the pre-hearing meeting for the 8th day of January 2024 at the National Assembly Complex. IT IS IMPORTANT TO NOTE THAT IT WAS BINANCE WHO REQUESTED THIS MEETING, NOT ME OR THE COMMITTEE. WITHOUT THEIR REQUEST, THERE WOULD HAVE BEEN NO MEETING BETWEEN THE COMMITTEE AND BINANCE ON THE 8TH JANUARY 2024.
5. On the 8th day of January 2024, I was unavoidably absent from Abuja, Federal Capital Territory on assignment in another State with another Committee of the House of Representatives of which I am member. I therefore delegated three members of the Committee and a Clerk, to meet with a six-member team representing Binance at the pre-Hearing meeting which included Counsel to Binance. At the Pre-Hearing meeting which held in the premises of the National Assembly Complex, Three Arms Zone, Abuja, detailed facts on the allegations against Binance as contained in the aforesaid Petition, was made available to them to assist them in preparing for the Public Hearing scheduled for the 10th day of January 2024. The meeting was open, transparent and ended on a cordial note. No solicitation or demands of any type was made by representatives of the Committee to the Binance and/or their representatives at the meeting.
6. On the 10th day of January 2024, the MD/CEO of Binance, Mr. Richard Teng who was the officer specifically invited to appear before the Committee failed to appear for the scheduled Public Hearing having earlier forwarded a request to the Committee through his representatives for extension of time to enable him prepare adequately. The Committee obliged the request and rescheduled the Public Hearing. On the rescheduled date, neither the said MD/CEO or any Executive of Binance appeared. They instead sent a Counsel to represent them. The Committee informed Counsel to Binance that under the extant procedures set out in the Standing Orders of the House of Representatives, the role of Counsel of witnesses summoned to testify or give evidence in Investigative/Public Hearings is limited solely for the purpose of guiding the witness (es) concerning their Constitutional rights. Counsel was informed that he could not be a witness in the Investigative/Public Hearing; that the witness specifically invited by the Committee to appear before it to give evidence was Mr. Richard Teng, MD/CEO of Binance as clearly set out in the Committee’s letter of the 8th December 2023 addressed and sent to Mr. Richard Teng. The Committee again rescheduled the Public Hearing for the 4th day of March 2024 and directed that Mr. Richard Teng or in lieu of him, another Director of Binance should appear to testify before the Investigative/Public Hearing on that date.
7. On the 4th day of March 2024, neither Mr. Richard Teng, any Director of Binance or other senior executive officer of Binance appeared before the Committee. Instead, Binance again sent their Counsel to represent them at the Investigative/public Hearing. This was rejected by the Committee for the reasons already averred herein.
8. On the 7th day of May 2024, Mr. Richard Teng published in a Blog Post on the Website, Binance.Com, an article authored by him titled “TIGRAN GAMBARYAN IS INNOCENT AND MUST BE RELEASED” which contained false, untrue, malicious and defamatory allegations against me. On the same date, 7th May 2024, Mr. Richard Teng uploaded the article to his X (formerly Twitter) handle, @_RichardTeng.
9. I thereafter instructed my Counsel, Mr. Nnamdi U. Nwokocha Ahaaiwe, Esq. of NUNALEXIS Solicitors, L.P. to take remedial action on my behalf.
10. On the 14th day of June 2024, my said Counsel, wrote to Mr. Richard Teng and Binance demanding an apology, retraction and compensatory damages for the said defamatory publications made against me.
11. On the 24th day of June 2024, Binance and Mr. Richard Teng responded to my aforesaid Counsel’s letter through Ms. Eleanor Hughes, General Counsel/Chief Legal Officer, CLO., of Binance, essentially declining to offer an apology, retraction and compensatory damages as demanded by me.
12. On the 18th day of September 2024, my Counsel, Mr. Nnamdi U. Nwokocha Ahaaiwe, Esq., at my instructions, filed a Writ of Summons and other accompanying processes at the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory Abuja in Suit No: FCT/ABJ/HC/CV/4069/2024: Hon. Ginger Obinna Onwusibe V. Binance Holdings Ltd. (“Binance”) & Mr. Richard Teng in which I claim apology and retraction of the defamatory publications as well as injunctive reliefs and damages totaling three Billion dollars ($3,000,000,000.00), etc.
13. The case came up before the Court on the 22nd day of January 2025. The Defendants (Binance and Mr. Teng) were duly represented by Mr. Mark Mordi, SAN of the Law Firm, ALUKO & OYEBODE. The case is further adjourned to Wednesday 19th day of February 2025 for continuation of hearing.
14. Being constrained by the fact that some of the issues raised by today’s allegations are now subjudice which limits the extent to which I can respond to them without disrespecting the trial Court, I will only further emphasize the following:
(i) The House of Representatives is an independent arm of the Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. What we scheduled to hold on the 10th day of January 2024 and other adjourned dates was a PUBLIC HEARING to investigate allegations against Binance based on a Petition forwarded to our Committee. The pre-Hearing meeting of 8th January 2024 to clarify the details of the allegations against Binance was held at their instance.
(ii) The specific allegation made by Mr. Richard Teng and Binance initially was that demands for bribes were made by “UNKNOWN PERSONS” after they had left the pre-Hearing meeting. This is contrary to the allegation now made by Mr. Gambaryan today that demands for bribes were made during the meeting allegedly held in a room/office equipped with “fake” cameras and microphones.
(iii) Until the publications by Mr. Richard Teng on the 7th day of May 2024 referenced hereinabove, I was not aware that the Executive Branch of the Federal Government and its Agencies were conducting their own separate investigations into the activities of Binance in Nigeria. Neither myself nor the HR Committee on Financial Crimes coordinated with any Agency of the Executive Branch, not even the ones over which we have oversight function (EFCC and NFIU) in carrying out our Congressional duty of investigating the allegations against Binance.
(iv) I want to categorically deny that the Department of State Services (DSS) was in anyway involved in our investigations. I am not aware of any meeting held by Binance and its executives or representatives with the DSS on Friday January 5 2024 as alleged. We never coordinated with the DSS in our Congressional investigations.
(v) I want to categorically deny any coordination between our Congressional investigation and the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), particularly, the NSA, Mr. Nuhu Ribadu. No one in the ONSA, including Mr. Ribadu directed us to demand bribes from Binance and its officers on their behalf or ours and no such bribes were ever demanded. Similarly, no coordination existed between me, my Committee and the “Head” of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) as alleged by Mr. Tigran Gambaryan in his publication today on X as well as the ones he planted in NPR and WIRED publications and no bribes were demanded by my Committee on their behalf.
(vi) As already stated above, our Committee never coordinated with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) or the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) over whom we have oversight powers.
15. It is regrettable that some Nigerians are always ready to believe the worst against their country, its institutions and its public officials even without carefully examining allegations made against them, such as those made today by Mr. Gambaryan. The reaction by many Nigerians who simply believed these ridiculous allegations, hook, line and sinker is disheartening. I have been unfairly pilloried, called names and described as a criminal. My Party (Labour Party, LP) and even its Presidential Candidate, Mr. Peter Obi who have absolutely nothing to do with these matters have been mercilessly mocked in the social media. Even my Igbo tribe have been called thieves all because a foreign enterprise which sought to trample on our laws and regulations was being held accountable.
16. This raises the issue: who and what is Binance and its officials who the public choose to believe without evidence while demonizing their country, its institutions and officials? Binance is a criminal enterprise with a long history of convictions for crimes similar to those being investigated by the Nigerian authorities. Their infractions are too many to be fully examined in this statement and I urge our press and media to investigate more into their activities. I will simply highlight a few easily verifiable examples:
(i) On the 30th day of April 2024 the founder of Binance and its former MD/CEO, Mr. Changpeng Zhao, was sentenced to four months in prison (down from three years demanded by prosecutors) for money laundering, unlicensed money transmitting and violations in Seattle, United States (US). Richard Jones, the Presiding Judge, at the sentence hearing said Zhao put “Binance’s growth and profits over compliance with US laws and regulations.” According to US officials, Zhao, just as his company Binance did in Nigeria, intentionally turned a blind eye to transactions that financed terrorism, the illegal drug trade, and child s*x abuse. Mr. Zhao agreed to pay fifty million dollars ($50,000,000.00) personally in penalties and also stepped down as MD/CEO and was replaced by Mr. Richard Teng.
(ii) Binance also pleaded guilty and agreed to pay four Billion, three Hundred million US Dollars ($4.3 billion) to settle criminal money laundering charges levied by the U.S. Department of Justice.
(iii) Binance also paid One Billion, Five Hundred Million dollars ($1.5 billion) in fines in 2024 to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Washington.
(iv) The Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC) imposed a Four Million, Four Hundred Thousand dollars ($4.4 million) administrative monetary penalty on Binance for noncompliance with Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (CFT) regulations.
(v) Binance was fined Two Million, Two Hundred and Twenty-Five Thousand dollars (US$2.25 million) by India’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) for failing to adhere to the nation’s anti-money laundering standards in breach of India’s Prevention of Money Laundering Act of 2002.
(vi) The National Agency for Prospective Projects (NAPP) of Uzbekistan fined Binance the sum of 102 million Soms for operating without the necessary license in Uzbekistan. Despite the imposition of this fine, Binance has refrained from licensing its activities in the republic or paying the fine, prompting NAPP to recover the amount through court action.
CONCLUSION
17. The House of Representatives Committee on Financial Crimes scheduled a Public Hearing having received petitions alleging crimes and infractions in breach of extant Nigerian Laws and Regulations against Binance, similar to those for which they have been held accountable in other jurisdictions. Notwithstanding offering every opportunity of Fair Hearing to Biance, including agreeing to hold a pre-Hearing meeting at their instance to offer them full details of the allegations against them, Binance failed, neglected and refused to attend the Public Hearing fixed by the Committee for the 10th day of January 2024 and on subsequent adjourned dates agreed with their Counsel.
18. Subsequently an Executive of Binance escaped from the lawful custody of the ONSA and DSS and was smuggled out of Nigeria by operatives of Binance while under investigation for several breaches and infractions of Nigerian Law by Agencies of the Executive Branch. These investigations had nothing to do with the separate Public Hearing by the HR Committee on Financial Crimes and we were not a party to them in any way, though the issues under investigation may have overlapped.
19. Having refused to appear before a validly and lawfully scheduled Congressional Public Hearing and also facilitated the escape of its staff from the lawful custody of Nigerian Security Agencies, Binance and several of its staff, particularly, Mr. Richard Teng and Mr. Tigran Gambaryan have resorted to blackmail, false and malicious accusations against the Nigerian State and its institutions/officials in order to draw wool over the eyes of the public, deflect and disrupt the attention of the public from the actual facts and issues in contention.
20. On my part, I will continue to seek appropriate redress, remedies and take all lawful measures, including Court action to clear my good name. I shall revert to my Counsel for further action in respect of today’s defamatory and false accusations against me by Mr. Tigran Garmbaryan.
Thank you and God bless you.
Hon. Ginger Obinna Onwusibe
(Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Financial Crimes)”
