The chief executive officer (CEO) of crypto trading platform, Binance, Richard Teng, has described the detention of its employee, Tigran Gambaryan, by the Nigerian government as ‘unjust’ saying it was a “dangerous precedent” for international businesses.
Teng also said despite Binance’s repeated efforts at constructive engagement and cooperation with Nigerian authorities, Gambaryan remains in detention for ‘spurious’ reasons.
The CEO, in a statement on Tuesday, said, “to invite a company’s mid-level employees for collaborative policy meetings, only to detain them, has set a dangerous new precedent for all companies worldwide.”
He said the regrettable turn of events contradicts the spirit of cooperation and transparency that Binance has consistently demonstrated in its interactions with the regulatory authorities.”
On February 26, Gambaryan and his colleague Nadeem Anjarwalla were arrested in connection with a criminal investigation into Binance’s activities in Nigeria when they arrived in the country.
Anjarwalla escaped custody, while Gambaryan remain in detention at the Kuje correctional centre pending the determination of his bail application.
The Nigerian government blamed Binance for the naira depreciation, accusing it of fixing exchange rate prices on its platform, the biggest crypto exchange globally.
