By Aaron Ossai
Federal Lawmaker, Hon. Ginger Onwusibe, Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Financial Crimes, has strongly denied allegations of bribery made against him by Tigran Gambaryan, a senior executive of Binance.
The lawmaker, who has been at the center of an investigation into Binance’s operations in Nigeria, described the claims as false, malicious, and defamato
Onwusibe’s response follows a statement by Gambaryan, Binance’s Head of Financial Crime Compliance, who took to social media to accuse the lawmaker and his Committee of demanding bribes during an investigative hearing on the company’s activities in Nigeria.
The accusations were also echoed in international publications, including NPR and Wired, painting a picture of Binance executives being subjected to political and legal harassment in Nigeria.
Reacting to these claims, Onwusibe said he initially chose not to respond, as the matter is already before the court. However, given the widespread public reactions and what he described as the “unfair demonization” of his person, his political party, and even his ethnic group, he felt compelled to address the allegations.
Providing a detailed account of events, Onwusibe said that his Committee began investigating Binance after receiving a petition from the Empowerment for Unemployed Youth Initiative, a civil society organization. The petition alleged that Binance had engaged in financial and economic crimes that posed a threat to the Nigerian economy. In response, the committee invited Binance’s CEO, Richard Teng, to appear before a public hearing scheduled for January 10, 2024.
“However, before that date, Binance requested a pre-hearing meeting to better understand the allegations against them. Onwusibe explained that the committee agreed to the request and scheduled the meeting for January 8, 2024, at the National Assembly complex”, he explained.
He said he was unable to attend the meeting due to other official engagements, so he delegated three committee members and a clerk to meet with Binance’s six-member team, which included legal counsel. According to Onwusibe, the meeting was professional, transparent, and ended on a cordial note, with no demands for bribes.
Despite agreeing to attend the public hearing, Binance’s CEO, Richard Teng, failed to appear on multiple occasions. Instead, the company sent legal representatives, a move the committee rejected. The hearing was postponed several times to accommodate Binance’s requests, but neither Teng nor any other senior Binance executive ever attended. This, Onwusibe said, raised serious concerns about Binance’s willingness to cooperate with Nigerian authorities.
As the controversy grew, Onwusibe said he was surprised to discover, through a May 7, 2024, blog post by Richard Teng, that Binance executives were also under investigation by Nigeria’s security agencies, including the Department of State Services (DSS) and the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA). Teng’s post, titled “Tigran Gambaryan is Innocent and Must Be Released”, contained what Onwusibe described as defamatory claims against him.
In response, he instructed his lawyer, Nnamdi U. Nwokocha Ahaaiwe, to demand an apology and damages. Binance, however, refused to retract the statements or offer any compensation.
On September 18, 2024, Onwusibe filed a lawsuit against Binance and Teng at the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, seeking an apology, a retraction, and $3 billion in damages. The case, which first came up for hearing on January 22, 2025, is set to continue on February 19.
