News Editor
By Olu Balogun
Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Financial Crimes and lawmaker representing Isiala Ngwa North/Isiala Ngwa South Federal Constituency of AbiaState, Hon. Ginger Obinna Onwusibe has denied allegation that bribes were demanded from the cryptocurrency firm, Binance and its officers by the committee, describing it as malicious and defamatory.
Onwusibe also denied any coordination with congregational investigation and the Office of the National Security Adviser, ONSA.
Head of Financial Crime Compliance, Binance, Tigran Gambaryan, who was arrested and detained alongside one of his staff members in Nigeria for several months over alleged corruption, had named three members of the House of Representatives for allegedly demanded a bribe of $150million from him to avoid security agencies from swooping on him.
Taking to his verified X (formerly Twitter) handle on Friday, Gambaryan named Philip Agbese, Ginger Onwusibe and Peter Akpanke, all members of the House, as the men who allegedly demanded the huge sum from him.
Reacting to the allegation in a statement titled: “Limited reaction to false, malicious and defamatory publications against me by Tigran Gambaryan of Binance” and made available to newsmen in Abuja, insisted that no bribes were demanded from the firm by the committee on behalf of its members or any other people.
“I want to categorically deny any coordination between our Congressional investigation and the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), particularly, the NSA, Mr. Nuhu Ribadu. No one in the ONSA, including Mr. Ribadu directed us to demand bribes from Binance and its officers on their behalf or ours and no such bribes were ever demanded.
“Similarly, no coordination existed between me, my Committee and the ‘Head’ of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) as alleged by Mr. Tigran Gambaryan in his publication today on X as well as the ones he planted in NPR and WIRED publications and no bribes were demanded by my Committee on their behalf.
“As already stated above, our Committee never coordinated with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) or the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) over whom we have oversight powers,” he stated.
Besides the Gambaryan’s post on X, Onwusibe added that his attention was also drawn to a publication in the NPR media website, titled “THE ‘CRYPTO WIZARD’ VS. NIGERIA” published on February 11, 2025 written by Dina Temple-Raston, Nick Fountain, Jess Jiang, Emma Peaslee and Sean Powers as well as another publication in the WIRED media website titled “THE UNTOLD STORY OF A CRYPTO CRIME FIGHTER’S DESCENT INTO NIGERIA PRISON” published on February 10, 2025 written by Andy Greenberg “all of which contained very damaging, false, malicious and defamatory accusations against me.”
The lawmaker, said he was only giving a limited response “because the issues raised in the said publications are subjudice being subject of a court action initiated by me against Binance and their Managing Director/CEO, Mr. Richard Teng which is pending before a High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.”
He explained that his Committee had in December 2023 received a petition from a civil society organisation-cum-non governmental organisation, SO/NGO, the Empowerment for Unemployed Youth Initiative alleging multiple financial and economic crimes and irregularities perpetrated by Binance against the Nigerian economy and State.
“Upon receipt o TVf the said Petition, we wrote to Mr. Richard Teng who is the Managing Director/CEO of Binance, inviting him to appear before the Investigative/Public Hearing set up by the Committee to investigate the allegations bordering on breach and non-compliance by Binance with extant Laws and Regulations related to their operations in Nigeria.
“Binance and Mr. Teng through their representatives contacted the Committee, in order to agree on a convenient date for them to appear and testify at the ìnvestigative/public hearing and the 10 day of January 2024 was agreed as a convenient date for a public hearing on the matter
“Before the agreed date of the 10 day of January 2024 when the public hearing was scheduled to hold, Binance reached out to the Committee to request for a pre-hearing meeting which will afford them an opportunity to gain deeper insight into details of the allegations against them in order to assist them in preparing for the investigative/public hearing. The Committee conceded the request by Binance and scheduled the pre-hearing meeting for the 8th day of January 2024 at the National Assembly complex,” the statement reads in parts.
Onwusibe emphasized that it was Binance who requested for the meeting and not him or the committee, adding that there would have been no meeting between them on January 8, 2024, a day which he was «unavoidably absent from Abuja” due to assignment with another Committee of the House of of which he is a member.
The lawmaker further informed that Richard Teng had on May 7, 2024 published in a Blog Post on the Website, Binance.Com, an article authored by him titled “TIGRAN GAMBARYAN IS INNOCENT AND MUST BE RELEASED” which according to him contained false, malicious and defamatory allegations against me”, adding that “on the same date, Teng uploaded the article to his X (formerly Twitter) handle.”
He argued that the specific allegation made by Mr. Richard Teng and Binance initially was that demands for bribes were made by “unknown persons” after they had left the pre-hearing meeting, saying “this is contrary to the allegation now made by Mr. Gambaryan today that demands for bribes were made during the meeting allegedly held in a room/office equipped with “fake” cameras and microphones.’
Onwusibe added that until the publications by Teng on May 7, 2024 he was not aware that the executive arm of Federal Government and its agencies were conducting their own separate investigations into the activities of Binance in Nigeria, insisting that neither himself nor the House of Representatives Committee on Financial Crimes coordinated with any of the agencies.
The lawmaker stated that he would continue to seek appropriate redress, remedies and take all lawful measures, including Court action to clear his “good” name.
