A member of the house of representatives, Philip Agbese has denied a bribery allegation against him by an executive of Binance Holdings Limited, Tigran Gambaryan.
In a post published on X on Friday, and reported by LEADERSHIP, Gambaryan recounted his experiences in the hands of some Nigerian lawmakers.
Gambaryan claimed three lawmakers, including Peter Akpanke, and Agbese demanded a $150 million bribe in cryptocurrency payment into their personal wallets. The Binance executive, however, failed to provide any evidence to support his claims.
RELATED: Binance Executive Accuses 3 Nigerian Lawmakers Of Demanding $150m Bribe
In a statement issued on Friday, Agbese said he was not a member of the committee and never demanded a bribe from Binance.
“I am outraged by the false allegations made by Tigran Gambaryan, an executive of the controversial crypto firm Binance, claiming that I was among those who demanded a $150 million bribe from him,” the statement reads.
“These allegations are false. I was not part of any meeting with any Binance executive regarding money for any purpose.
“The leadership of the committee took the matter to court, and Binance has already apologized.
“Let it be on record that I am not a member of the Committee on Economic and Financial Crimes. I visited my colleague, Hon. Peter Ankpanke, in his office, where he was meeting with some visitors about an activity of his Committee, with Hon. Peter Anakwe, a member of the Committee present.
“We exchanged pleasantries and, in character with my person as an avid pursuer of knowledge, discussed Binance’s activities that did not include any demand from anyone.
“It was during this visit to the office of Hon. Peter Ankpanke, with Hon. Peter Anekwe present, that he told me they were interfacing with Binance Team from abroad over a referral to their Committee.
“What transpired between the two of them and the Binance executive after I left the office is left to them. I never saw those visitors again after that chance meeting and did not afterwards attend any meeting with Binance executives, the EFCC, or the DSS.
“I am aware that when this issue was first raised, the Chairman of the Committee went to court and Binance apologised. So, all inquiries should be directed to the Committee, not to Hon. Philip Agbese.”
Agbese noted that he has never been involved in any cryptocurrency trading and does not have a crypto wallet so he could not have asked for funds to be credited to a “non-existent wallet”.
He urged Gambaryan to either publish any evidence linking him to the bribery accusation or apologize within seven days, or face legal action.
