MEMBERS of the House of Representatives has denied demanding or collecting bribes from cryptocurrency platform, Binance, as recently alleged by its Chief Executive Officer, Richard Teng.
Members noted that the accusation was capable of bringing the House and its members into disrepute, insisting that its committees did not meet the Binance executives, as claimed by Teng.
Recall that Teng alleged that some unnamed persons purportedly acting on behalf of some House members to demand $150million in cryptocurrency to resolve the tax evasion and money laundering case against it and its officials by Nigeria.
In a post published by the New York Times on Tuesday, May 7, Teng alleged that the unnamed persons made the bribe demand to Binance officials shortly after they held a meeting with lawmakers on January 8, saying the purported agent demanded “a significant payment in cryptocurrency to be paid in secret within 48 hours to make the issues go away.”
But reacting to the allegations while raising a “point of privilege,” during plenary on Wednesday, May 8, Kama Nkemkanma insisted that the House never met with Binance executives or their agents, adding: “This House can never allow itself to be talked down.”
He, therefore, urged members not to take the allegation lightly.
The Speaker, Tajudeen Abbas, urged the Clerk of the House to take note, saying: “We need to use whatever media available to us to refute this allegation. Nothing like that has ever happened. No committee of the House has ever engaged this man.”
The House, thereafter, resolved to investigate the escape of Binance’s Head of the African Region, Nadeem Anjarwalla, from lawful custody, with the Speaker mandating the committees on Financial Crimes, National Security and Intelligence and Interior to investigate and report to the House in two weeks.
It also directed the committees to investigate the personnel involved in the incident, following the adoption of a motion by the member representing Aguata Federal Constituency of Anambra State, Dominic Okafor.
