March 25, 2024
The Federal Government has initiated legal proceedings against the cryptocurrency exchange giant; Binance, over tax evasion.
The charges were filed at the Federal High Court in Abuja by the Federal Inland Revenue Service.
In the suit with number: FHC/ABJ/CR/115/2024, FIRS implicated Binance with four tax evasion accusations adding that it was a decisive move aimed at upholding fiscal responsibility and safeguarding the economic integrity of the country.
Joined with the crypto company as second and third defendants in the suit are Tigran Gambaryan and Nadeem Anjarwalla, both senior executives of Binance currently under the custody of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
The charges levied against Binance include non-payment of Value-Added Tax, Company Income Tax, failure to file tax returns, and complicity in aiding customers to evade taxes through its platform.
In the suit, the Federal Government also accused Binance of failure to register with FIRS for tax purposes and contravening existing tax regulations within the country.
One of the counts in the lawsuit pertains to Binance’s alleged failure to collect and remit various categories of taxes to the federation as stipulated by Section 40 of the FIRS Establishment Act 2007 as amended.
Section 40 of the Act explicitly addresses the non-deduction and non-remittance of taxes, prescribing penalties and potential imprisonment for defaulting entities.
The charges further detail specific instances where Binance purportedly violated tax laws, such as failing to issue invoices for VAT purposes, thus obstructing the determination and payment of taxes by subscribers.
“Any company that transacts business in excess of N25 million annually is deemed by the Finance Act to be present in Nigeria.
“According to this rule, Binance falls into that category. So, it has to pay taxes like Company Income Tax (CIT) and also collect and pay Value Added Tax (VAT).
“But Binance did not do this properly. So, the company broke Nigerian laws and could be investigated and taken to court for this infraction,” Adekanmbi said.
FIRS, by the law setting it up and various others, is empowered to assess, collect and account for revenue accruing to the Federation and administer relevant tax laws.
Binance pleaded guilty to flouting anti-money laundering laws in the United States in late 2023, settling for a plea bargain that cost the company $ 4.3 billion.
March 25, 2024
The Osun State Police Command arrested six suspected cultist with 155 rounds of 9mm live ammunition.
The suspects were arrested at Ipetu-Ijesa, motor park, Oriade local government area of Osun state while attempting to board a public transport out of the town.
It was gathered that the suspects got to the park in groups and park operators suspected their move, hence, alerted police authority in the town.
Four cut to size locally made pistol were also found in their possession.
Osun police command spokesperson, Yemisi Opalola while confirming the arrest on Sunday, said the suspect confessed to being members of ‘eiye’ confraternity from Ilorin, Kwara state.
According to her, the suspects disclosed that they were heading to Delta State for cultism operation before they were caught.
Her words, “We recieved information that some hoodlums suspected to be the men of under world were sighted in Ipetu-Ijesa motor park. A police team moved to the motor park and apprehended the six suspects.
“Meanwhile four cut to size locally made pistols with 155 rounds of live 9mm ammunition were recovered from the suspect.
“The suspects confessed to being members of eiye confraternity from Ilorin town, Kwara state and heading to Delta state for cultism operation.”
March 25, 2024
The Federal Government has said that it has plans to train some newly recruited personnel of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps in the 36 states and Federal Capital Territory as the School Safety Protection Squad to curb cases of abduction of schoolchildren.
The Commander of the National Safe Schools Response Coordination Centre of the NSCDC, Hammed Abodunrin, disclosed this in an interview with news men on Sunday just as the Defence Headquarters confirmed that troops had rescued 137 abducted pupils of the LEA Primary School and the Government Secondary School Kuriga in the Chikun Local Government Area, Kaduna, within Zamfara State.
This came the President received the news of the release of the Kuriga schoolchildren, as well as the release of pupils of a Tsangaya school in Sokoto State, commending all the parties involved in the feat for their valiant efforts.
The Defence Headquarters announced that 137 Kaduna schoolchildren were rescued but it did not explain what happened to the remaining as 287 pupils were kidnapped from the schools on March 7, 2024.
On March 7, 2024, there were reports that 287 pupils and teachers of LEA Primary School and the Government Secondary School Kuriga in the Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna State were abducted by suspected terrorists who took them into the forest.
Their abductors subsequently requested a ransom of N1bn for their release, setting a deadline of March 27, 2024, for the payment.
The Director of Defence Media Operations, Maj Gen, Buba, in a statement on Sunday, stated that the victims were rescued in the early hours of Sunday by the troops with support from local authorities and government agencies.
Buba put the number of the rescued victims at 137, comprising 76 females and 61 males, adding that they were rescued in Zamfara State and would be conveyed to Kaduna where they would be handed over to the state government.
March 19, 2024
President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Joe Ajaero, has called on the Federal Government to pay the four months withheld salaries of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities and Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational Associated Institutions with immediate effect to avoid further industrial action.
This was in reaction to the seven-day warning strike that SSANU/NASU began on Monday, which grounded universities’ activities across the country.
SSANU and NASU had for about a month called the attention of the government to its exclusion from the payment of the withheld salaries which it commenced payment for the Academic Staff Union of Universities in February.
Their salaries were withheld when the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari invoked a ‘No Work, No Pay policy’ against the Academic Staff Union of Universities and SSANU for embarking on a strike that lasted eight months and four months in 2022 respectively.
A statement signed by Ajaero, said, “We join our affiliate unions, the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions and Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities in demanding the immediate payment of the withheld salaries of their members.
“There has been no credible reason or explanation for withholding those salaries in the first place.
We recall this singular act plunged the members into indescribable hardship.
“Much worse, it defies logic to try to subject members of these unions to discriminatory treatment. By so doing government is courting avoidable industrial disputes. At a time, when confidence is being restored to the public universities the least the government could do is not engineer another strike. The toll on all the parties will be unacceptably high, especially for students and parents who bear the burden of movement on our dangerous roads. In light of this, we urge the government to expeditiously pay up the outstanding. We advise the government to not take for granted the maturity of these unions.”
