The Nigerian government said the $150,000 bribery allegations by Tigran Gambaryan, an American personnel of Binance lack credibility and cannot be substantiated.
Minister of Information and National Orientation Alhaji Mohammed Idris, in a statement on Friday, said the allegations were meant to discredit and intimidate those who ensured that he faced justice.
“We categorically deny the retaliatory claims made by Mr. Gambaryan against Nigerian officials involved in his case, and we urge the public to disregard these false accusations in their entirety,” he stated.
Alhaji Idris disclosed that the Nigerian government rejected Binance’s offer of a $5 million in exchange for Mr. Gambaryan’s freedom, stating that he was released by the Nigerian government in October 2024 on humanitarian grounds, “following a high-level diplomatic intervention that ended with tangible benefits for Nigeria.”
The minister further disclosed that government was not officially involved when Mr. Gambaryan and his colleagues first visited the country, but “when the attention of the government was called to an alleged bribery demand during that trip, an investigation was immediately opened into it though there was no formal complaint by anyone.”
According to him, “Gambaryan’s second visit to Nigeria was part of a wider probe into the criminal manipulation of the Nigerian currency through peer-to-peer platforms like Binance, but investigators were frustrated by the tactics deployed by Gambaryan and his team.”
The minister called on Nigerians to disregard the allegation, and expressed confidence that both the Nigerian and American judicial systems will provide Mr. Gambaryan with a fair opportunity to substantiate his claims in court.
“Until then, we advise the public to exercise caution and not be swayed by Mr. Gambaryan’s unfounded and malicious claims,” he advised.
