…arrested two top executives undergoing interrogation
…Binance is undermining our economy, Ononuga
By Abdkareem Idris
The two arrested executives of Binance who flew in the country in the wake of the Central Bank swoop on the online financial market application, may face charges of economic sabotage, money laundering, tax evasion and sundry financial crimes.
A credible source close to the Nigerian Intelligence Community on Wednesday night disclosed to Newstodayng the enormous damage BINANCE and other online financial trading apps have inflicted on the nation’s legal tender which bothers on criminality, economic sabotage and sundry acts.
The two BINANCE executives are said to be undergoing interrogated on issues bordering on money laundering (worth billions of dollars), currency speculation, tax evasion, operating in Nigeria without a license and after being banned, terrorism financing and organized crimes, the source ends by saying “it’s very bad”
NEWSTODAYNG reliably gathered that terrorism and organized crime financing is the crux of the matter and that is why ONSA requested for the data of all users and their transactions .
The source further disclosed that BINANCE was already “showing good faith and cooperating with relevant agencies( ONSA, NFIU, EFCC,DSS). They are ready to right their wrongs, They already admitted and linked the huge “passed through funds” to terrorism and organized crime financing”
Office of the National Security Adviser was also said to be “concerned about the data base for now and since they are cooperating, there may be a concession on the part of FG by not disclosing the fine fee but the fine will be negotiated after the issuance of their data base and conclusion of investigation”.
The extent of their cooperation will determine their continued existence in Nigeria, the source concluded
Explaining why the government moved against Binance, the Presidential spokesman, Mr Bayo Onanuga, said “If we don’t clamp down on Binance, Binance will destroy the economy of this country. They just fix the rate”.
Speaking on Channels on Wednesday evening, Ononuga said, “We have saboteurs. Look at what Binance is doing to our economy. That is why the government moved against Binance. Some people sit down using the cyberspace to dictate even our exchange rate, hijacking the role of the CBN.
“They just sit down and fix anything they like. It’s a sabotage and we are trying to prevent that from happening henceforth.”