The house of representatives has denied demanding bribe from Binance, a popular cryptocurrency platform.

On Tuesday, the cryptocurrency giant said some unknown persons in Nigeria demanded huge payments in digital currency to make their “problems in the country go away”.

On February 28, the federal government detained two top executives of Binance as part of a probe bordering on illegal operations in the country and foreign exchange rate manipulations.

The detained executives included Nadeem Anjarwalla, a 37-year-old British-Kenyan and Binance’s regional manager for Africa; and Tigran Gambaryan, a 39-year-old US citizen and Binance’s head of financial crime compliance.

Nigeria’s government, on March 25, filed a criminal charge against Binance for “tax evasion” — the same period Anjarwalla fled detention.

THE BLOG POST

Speaking on the issues, Richard Teng, Binance’s chief executive officer (CEO), in a blog post, said despite multiple requests, Binance has still not received details of the allegations, “and our employees, therefore, inquired if there was an opportunity to submit our responses in writing and in the absence of a public hearing”.

Teng said Binance held a meeting with the house committee on financial crimes (HCFC).

“There were a number of reasons for that, including the sensitivity of the information and getting the opportunity to see the allegations in full and prepare a thorough substantive response,” he said.

“On January 8, Binance employees had a face-to-face meeting with three members of the HCFC and a clerk in Abuja at the House of Representatives building for a scheduled pre-hearing engagement in private.

“The meeting was chaired by the Honourable Peter Akpanke, the Honourable Philip Agbese, and the Honourable Peter Aniekwe, as well as a clerk.

“During the conversation, the Committee highlighted the important nature of the issues at hand and the lengths to which they were prepared to go to summon Binance, including issuing arrest warrants against our team and CEO and preventing our team from leaving the country.

“While concerning, it was understood that the HCFC does not in fact have the power to issue arrest warrants.

“The meeting ended with the Chair confirming they would consider the matter and revert through Binance’s local counsel.

“However, as our employees were leaving the venue, they were approached by unknown persons who suggested to them to make a payment in settlement of the allegations.

“Later that day, our local counsel — representing us at that time — was summoned by the Committee through someone purporting to be their agent, who relayed the Committee’s terms and instructed our local counsel to advise us.”

‘NOTHING LIKE THAT EVER HAPPENED’

During plenary session on Wednesday, Kama Nkemkanma from Ebonyi state, raised a “point of privilege”, saying the house never met with Binance and no bribe has ever been demanded.

“This house can never allow itself to be talked down,” he said.

The lawmaker said the allegation is capable of “bringing the house into disrepute” and should “never be taken lightly”.

Ruling on the point of privilege, Tajudeen Abbas, speaker of the house, said the clerk should “take note”.

“We need to use whatever media available to us to refute this allegation,” Abbas said.

“Nothing like that has ever happened. No committee of the house has ever engaged this man.”

American technology company, Microsoft, has sacked its workers at the African Development Centre (ADC) in Lagos, Nigeria.

The ADC is Microsoft’s initiative in Africa for an engineering centre to provide local solutions with global scalability as well as provide employment opportunities and further enhance technological innovations on the continent.

Confirming the development on Wednesday, a staff, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told TheCable the workforce was laid off but the reasons are still unknown.

The company has also reportedly shut down the centre.

The development is coming less than four years after Microsoft opened operations in Nigeria.

In May 2019, Microsoft announced the establishment of ADC in Nigeria and Kenya, with the mission of creating innovative technology not just for Africa, but for the entire world.

Microsoft called for talented engineers to work on artificial intelligence, machine learning, and mixed reality.

The company committed to investing $100 million in the first five years of operation.

On March 21, 2022, the facility was opened in Lagos.

Microsoft had said the centre will house the product engineering, ecosystem development and innovation teams.

The ADC facility also housed the Microsoft Garage, a new entity, launched as part of ongoing efforts to scale innovation in the tech ecosystem.

President Bola Tinubu and his aides have returned to Nigeria from Europe today, a statement by the Presidency has said.

Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, who announced the development in a post on his X handle today, welcomed the president into the country.

“Welcome Home Mr President!,” he wrote.

President Tinubu had travelled for a meeting with the Dutch Prime Minister, Mark Rutte, over two weeks ago, from where he took a trip to Saudi Arabia to attend a special World Economic Forum (WEF).

He subsequently travelled to Europe after the summit.

It would be recalled that on April 22, the president left Abuja for the Kingdom of The Netherlands on an official visit.

The Presidential Spokesperson, Ajuri Ngelale, said he was visiting The Netherlands at the invitation of Prime Minister, Mark Rutte.

After the engagements in The Netherlands, Tinubu proceeded to Riyadh in Saudi Arabia to attend a special WEF meeting between April 28 and 29.

The president was expected back in the country after the forum in Saudi Arabia, but he did not return, fueling speculations about his whereabouts.