- Nadeem Anjarwala escaped from police custody in Nigeria on Friday, according to Binance.
- Binance's Africa manager reportedly fled the country after being taken to pray at a mosque.
- Nigeria has accused Binance, Anjarwala and another employee of the cryptocurrency exchange of tax evasion.
A Binance executive is reportedly on the run after escaping from police custody in Nigeria on Friday.
Nadeem Anjarwala, Africa regional manager for a cryptocurrency exchange, fled the country on Middle East Airlines after fleeing security guards who took him to pray at a mosque in Abuja, Nigeria's Premium Times reported. did.
“We have learned that Mr. Nadeem is no longer in custody in Nigeria,” a Binance representative told Business Insider on Monday. “The safety of our employees is our top priority and we are working with the Nigerian authorities to quickly resolve this issue.”
Nigerian authorities did not immediately respond to BI's request for comment, but presidential spokesperson Bayo Onanuga told Bloomberg that Anjarwala had fled.
Authorities detained Anjarwala and Binance executive Tigran Gambariyan during a visit to Nigeria in February. Since then, they have been detained in a house with security guards.
On Monday, Nigeria's Federal Inland Revenue Service announced that it would charge Binance, Anjarwala and Gambariyan with tax evasion charges.
According to Chainalysis data, Nigeria has the second highest cryptocurrency adoption rate in the world. Earlier this year, it began cracking down on exchanges by ordering local telecommunications companies to restrict access to Binance, Coinbase, and Kraken.
Authorities are trying to shore up the naira, which has fallen 70% against the US dollar over the past year, as young Nigerians in particular choose to park their funds in alternative assets such as Bitcoin.
According to the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics, the rapid devaluation of the naira has pushed inflation rates up to 32%.
