Economy
Court to Hear FIRS Economic Losses Case Against Binance on April 7
By Adedapo Adesanya
A Federal High Court in Abuja on Monday adjourned the suit filed by the Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS) against Binance Holdings Ltd over economic losses allegedly caused by its operations in Nigeria to April 7.
The matter, which was on number 9 on the cause list, could not proceed before Justice Inyang Ekwo.
The development occurred after some cases had be heard by the judge before he went on recess.
FIRS had, in the suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/1444/2024, dragged Binance and its executives, Mr Tigran Gambaryan and Mr Nadeem Anjarwalla to court.
In the originating summons dated and filed September 30, 2024, by Mr Kanu Agabi, the country’s’ tax regulatory body sought four questions for determination.
The FIRS prayed the court to determine “whether pursuant to Section 13(2) of the Companies Income Tax (CIT) Act Cap. C21, LFN, 2024 and Order (1)(a) and (c) of Companies Income Tax (Significant Economic Presence) Order 2020, the defendants are not liable to pay annual corporate income tax to the Federal Republic of Nigeria for having had significant economic presence in Nigeria from 2022 to 2023, among others.
The agency, therefore, sought nine reliefs should the court answered its questions in the affirmative.
It wants the court to declare that pursuant to all relevant laws, the defendants are liable to pay annual corporate income tax to the Federal Government for having significant economic presence in the country.
It wants the court to declare that Binance and its representatives are liable to file their income tax to the agency for the year 2022 and 2023 respectively from the time they began to exercise significant economic presence in Nigeria.
FIRS also seeks a declaration that it is entitled, under Section 87(1) of the CIT Act Cap. C21, LFN, 2004; Sections 25(1) and 34(1) of the FIRS (Establishment) Act 2007, to recover from the defendants the cumulative sum of $2,001,000,000.00 being the amount due by way of income tax to the plaintiff from the defendants for 2022 and 2023 respectively.
It also seeks a declaration that pursuant to Section 85(1) of the CIT Act Cap. C21, LFN, 2004 and Section 32(1) of the FIRS (Establishment) Act 2007, the defendants are liable to additional payment of 10 per cent per annum on the tax due but not paid for 2022 and 2023 respectively.
The agency, therefore, sought an order mandating the defendants to pay to the plaintiff the sums of $2,001,000,000.00 for year 2022 and for 2023, being the unpaid income tax due to the plaintiff from the defendants for the year 2022 and 2023 respectively.
“An order mandating the defendants to pay to the plaintiff the 10% addition for non-payment of income tax for year 2022 and 2023 respectively.
“An order mandating the defendants to pay 26.75% interest rate being the prevailing Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) lending interest per annum from the 1st January, 2023 and 1st January, 2024 respectively when the tax become due and payable until it is fully paid.”
In the affidavit deposed to by Mr Jimada Yusuf, a member, Special Investigation Team from the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), he said he and other officials of FIRS and other regulatory agencies, investigated Binance’s business activities in Nigeria.
Mr Yusuf said the Federal Government discovered that Binance had been operating in Nigeria for over six years without registration.
According to him, this was allegedly confirmed by Gambaryan and Anjarwalla during a meeting with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in 2024.
He further claimed that in a letter dated February 20, 2024, Binance admitted to having 386,256 active users from Nigeria on its platform, with a trading volume of $21.6 billion and a net revenue of $35.4 million for the calendar year 2023.
He accused Binance and its executives of multiple infractions, including offering financial services without the necessary licenses, operating without required permits, non-compliance with the money laundering Act, providing currency speculation services without proper authorisation, etc.
Mr Yusuf averred that Binance engaged in Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) activities in Nigeria, providing trading and custodial services to Nigerian users without proper registration with the relevant regulatory agencies, among others.
FIRS and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) are also prosecuting the cryptocurrency company in separate charges before Justice Emeka Nwite of the same court.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Food Concepts Plc neutralized the gains recorded by three securities, returning the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange into the negative territory with a 0.27 per cent loss on Thursday, December 4.
Yesterday, the share price of the parent company of Chicken Republic and PieXpress declined by 34 Kobo to sell at N3.15 per unit compared with the previous day’s N3.49 per unit.
This shrank the market capitalisation of the OTC bourse by N5.72 billion to N2.136 billion from N2.142 trillion and weakened the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) by 9.57 points to 3,571.53 points from 3,581.10 points.
Business Post reports that Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc went down by 50 Kobo to N38.50 per share from N38.00 per share, FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc gained 29 Kobo to sell at N55.79 per unit versus N55.50 per unit, and Geo-Fluids Plc added 5 Kobo to close at N4.60 per share compared with Wednesday’s closing price of N4.55 per share.
Trading data indicated that the volume of securities recorded at the session surged by 6,885.3 per cent to 4.3 million units from the 61,570 units posted a day earlier, the value of securities increased by 10,301.7 per cent to N947.2 million from N3.3 million, and the number of deals went up by 146.7 per cent to 37 deals from the 15 deals achieved in the previous trading session.
At the close of business, Infrastructure Credit Guarantee Company (InfraCredit) Plc was the most traded stock by value on a year-to-date basis with the sale of 5.8 billion units for N16.4 billion, trailed by Okitipupa Plc with 170.4 million units worth N8.0 billion, and Air Liquide Plc with 507.5 million units valued at N4.2 billion.
InfraCredit Plc also finished the session as the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis with 5.8 billion units transacted for N16.4 billion, followed by Industrial and General Insurance (IGI) Plc with 1.2 billion units sold for N420.2 million, and Impresit Bakolori Plc with 536.9 million units traded for N524.9 million.
By Dipo Olowookere
The upward trend witnessed at the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited in recent sessions continued on Thursday as it further improved by 0.10 per cent.
This was despite investor sentiment turning bearish after the local equity market ended with 23 price gainers and 28 price gainers, indicating a negative market breadth index.
UAC Nigeria gained 10.00 per cent to finish at N88.00, Morison Industries appreciated by 9.94 per cent to N3.54, Ecobank rose by 8.53 per cent to N36.90, and Coronation Insurance grew by 8.47 per cent to N2.56.
On the flip side, Ellah Lakes depreciated by 10.00 per cent to N13.14, Eunisell Nigeria also shed 10.00 per cent to finish at N72.90, Transcorp Hotels slipped by 9.95 per cent to N157.50, Omatek shrank by 9.23 per cent to N1.18, and Guinea Insurance dipped by 8.46 per cent to N1.19.
Yesterday, the All-Share Index (ASI) went up by 152.28 points to 145,476.15 points from 145,323.87 points and the market capitalisation chalked up N97 billion to finish at N92.726 trillion compared with the previous day’s N92.629 trillion.
Customs Street was bubbling with activities on Thursday, though the trading volume and value slightly went down, according to data.
A total of 1.9 billion stocks worth N19.2 billion exchanged hands in 23,369 deals during the session versus the N2.3 billion valued at N21.0 billion traded in 21,513 deals a day earlier.
This showed that the number of deals increased by 8.63 per cent, the volume of transactions depleted by 17.39 per cent, and the value of trades decreased by 8.57 per cent.
For another trading day, eTranzact led the activity chart with 1.6 billion units sold for N6.4 billion, Fidelity Bank traded 31.0 million units worth N589.3 million, GTCO exchanged 28.3 million units valued at N2.5 billion, Zenith Bank transacted 27.1 million units for N1.6 billion, and Ecobank traded 21.9 million units worth N744.3 million.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira marginally depreciated against the United States Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Thursday, December 4 amid renewed forex pressure associated with December.
At the official market yesterday, the Nigerian currency lost 0.01 per cent or 18 Kobo against the Dollar to close at N1,447.83/$1 compared with the previous day’s N1,447.65/$1.
It was not a different scenario with the local currency in the same market segment against the Pound Sterling as it further shed N15.43 to sell for N1,930.97/£1 versus Wednesday’s closing price of N1,925.08/£1 and declined against the Euro by 20 Kobo to finish at N1,688.74/€1 compared with the preceding session’s N1,688.54/€1.
Similarly, the Nigerian Naira lost N5 against the greenback in the black market to quote at N1,465/$1 compared with the previous day’s value of N1,460/$1 but closed flat against the Dollar at the GTBank FX counter at N1,453/$1.
Fluctuations in trading range is expected to continue during the festive season as traders expect the Nigerian currency to be stable, supported by intervention s by to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)in the face of steady dollar demand.
Support is also expected in coming weeks as seasonal activities, particularly the stylised “Detty December” festivities, will see inflows that will give the Naira a boost after it depreciated mildly last month, according to a new report.
“As the festive Detty December season intensifies, inbound travel, tourism spending, and diaspora inflows are expected to provide moderate support for FX liquidity,” analysts at the research unit of FMDA said in its latest monthly report for November.
Traders cited by Reuters expect that the Naira will trade within a band of N1,443-N1,450 next week, buoyed by improved FX interventions by the apex bank.
Meanwhile, the crypto market was down as the US Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge, core PCE, likely rose in September—moving in the wrong direction. However, volatility indices show no signs of major turbulence.
If the actual figure matches estimates, it would mark 55 straight months of inflation above the US central bank’s 2 per cent target. The sticky inflation would strengthen the hawkish policymakers, who are in favour of slower rate cuts.
Ripple (XRP) depreciated by 4.5 per cent to $2.08, Solana (SOL) went down by 3.8 per cent to $138.11, Litecoin (LTC) shrank by 3.1 per cent to $83.23, Dogecoin (DOGE) slid by 2.5 per cent to $0.1463, Cardano (ADA) declined by 2.1 per cent to $0.4368, Bitcoin (BTC) fell by 0.9 per cent to $91,975.45, Binance Coin (BNB) crumbled by 0.9 per cent to $899.41, and Ethereum (ETH) dropped by 0.7 per cent to $3,156.44, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) closed flat at $1.00 apiece.
-
Feature/OPED6 years agoDavos was Different this year
-
Travel/Tourism9 years ago
Lagos Seals Western Lodge Hotel In Ikorodu
-
Showbiz3 years agoEstranged Lover Releases Videos of Empress Njamah Bathing
-
Banking7 years agoSort Codes of GTBank Branches in Nigeria
-
Economy2 years agoSubsidy Removal: CNG at N130 Per Litre Cheaper Than Petrol—IPMAN
-
Banking3 years agoFirst Bank Announces Planned Downtime
-
Banking3 years agoSort Codes of UBA Branches in Nigeria
-
Sports3 years agoHighest Paid Nigerian Footballer – How Much Do Nigerian Footballers Earn