Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court, Abuja has ordered Binance Holdings Limited to provide the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission with the comprehensive data or of all persons from Nigeria trading on its platform.
It was gathered that the court handed down the order in an ex-parte motion filed by the EFCC, demanding information about Nigerians trading on the crypto website.
However, in the affidavit in support of the motion deposed to by an operative of the anti-graft agency, Hamma Bello, stated that the Special Investigation Team of the commission domiciled in the Office of the National Security Adviser received intelligence that money laundering and terrorism financing was carried out on Binance.
He said: “The Special Investigation Team of the commission domiciled in the Office of the National Security Adviser received an intelligence stating the nefarious activities (money laundering and terrorism financing) on Binance, a cryptocurrency exchange platform.
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“That on receipt of the intelligence, the team began an investigation by conducting surveillance of the activities of the platform.
“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 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 values 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 trading volume from Nigeria in 2023 alone stood at $21.6bn.
“Attached and marked as Exhibit EFCC 1 is a copy of the document from Binance to the ONSA stating this fact amongst others.
“That the commission will ensure that investigation is conducted within such reasonable time.”
