By Kingston Magare
Tigran Gambaryan, the Binance executive who was accused by the Federal government of undermining the naira by engaging in currency speculation and money laundering, said it was President Bola Tinubu’s economic policies that killed the naira not his firm.
The Central Bank of Nigeria governor, Yemi Cardoso alleged that $26billion was funneled through Binance.
Mr. Gambaryan and his colleague Nadeem Anjarwalla were detained by office of the National Security Adviser, Anjarwalla escaped and Gambaryan was later arraigned, but he was cleared of the charges after the US government intervened in October 2024.
Writing on his X social media page, Mr. Gambaryan noted that he and his colleague were made scapegoats after the effects of President Tinubu’s Naira devaluation policy, sank the national currency to its lowest level in decades.
“They tried to use us to violate international privacy laws by demanding user data on all Nigerians to target opposition members allegedly “manipulating the price of the naira”.
“However, they all knew that the naira’s devaluation was a direct result of Bola Tinubu’s monetary policy, which pegged the naira from the dollar. I’m not saying this policy decision was wrong, but everyone understood that removing government intervention would lead to extreme devaluation. Instead of acknowledging this, they used Binance as a scapegoat,” Gambaryan wrote.
He added that while in detention three lawmakers demanded for $150m in crypto currency and they would make the case disappear from the court. He also accused Nuhu Ribadu of demanding for a huge payout to fund his political ambition. The National Security Adviser is yet to respond to the allegations.
However, Philip Agbese one of the lawmakers mentioned has urged the Binance executive to present evidence.
“I’m prepared to resign in my own honour if he can show where I ever demanded a bribe, much less collecting one, from him or anyone linked to Binance,” the lawmaker told Peoples Gazette on Friday afternoon.
“I am not a member of the committee that looked into the Binance matter. I met him once in the office of another lawmaker, and we only chatted when I told him I had schooled in the UK. But never for once did I ask him to pay me anything at the meeting, and I never set my eyes on him again after that meeting,” Mr Agbese said.
“So I don’t know, in God’s honest truth, what he is talking about.”
