Investor Ebrima Solomon Tamba has given a starkly contrasting perspective to the rosy picture that a recent Fatu Network report painted of Austrian national Manuel Stofleth-Mitterer, who both Tamba and his partner Marcel Limbertus van Andel suspected of sitting on millions of euros of proceeds from their investment at the Bitcoin Tower.
Tamba described as utterly false the narrative that Manuel is an investor, who came to The Gambia with his family and with strong financial muscle to invest.
“Let them say how much money they[Manuel and wife Angelika]have invested in The Gambia. Can they show any visible investment that they had in The Gambia before they met me? And who knew them before they started dealing with me?,” stated Solomon.
He explained that the Austrian couple capitalized on their ties to him to network with other people in The Gambia because he decided to take the backseat.
“They were even lying to people that they owned the Bitcoin Tower,” said Tamba, adding:”The truth has now emerged and they can’t hide anywhere. I see Manuel and Angelika as scammers. It’s a misnomer to call them investors. To call these people investors is an insult to genuine investors because an investor will come with money. These people came with nothing. They used my land to convince people to buy apartments so that they can make money. What sort of investors are they because they never brought anything here?”
Tamba told JollofNews that Manuel and Angelika were wanderers around the TDA, building castles in the air in their interactions with the people as, according to him, they did not have enough money and a clear and coherent investment plan.
“They only had wild dreams like telling people that they will bring people here to construct a bridge across the Banjul/Barra ferry corridor, or that they will build a factory here and there. It’s all fabrication. These are some of the sorts of lies they marketed to foreign investors so that they can milk them of their cash,” Tamba further explained.
“They even overcharged some investors of the Edge apartment building and badly furnished their apartments with second-rate furniture just to profiteer. We have about 15 apartments at the Edge that are still unfinished. So, where is all that money invested in the Edge? This man is sitting on more than six million euros,” he added.
Manuel and Angelika Mitterer were introduced to Solomon Tamba during the COVID-19 pandemic by Guinean national Ebrima Sillah, who still operates a juice pressing business that Tamba helped him start in the TDA. Sillah was absorbed by the then Kunta Kinteh Beach Bar and Restaurant when it was acquired by Tamba a quarter of a century ago. He worked with Tamba for several years until his mobility became limited due to an accident. Sillah said Solomon did not only provide him with a sustainable livelihood for many years, but he invested thousands of dalasis in his treatment, accommodation and feeding.
“This is why when Manuel and Angelika told me that they are investors, I wasted no time in introducing them to my kind and generous brother and friend Solomon,” Sillah told JollofNews last year.
But Sillah’s good intentions for Solomon turned out to be a nightmare for the successful hotelier.
Tamba explained that he could vividly recall that Manuel presented himself to him as a well-connected architect with a vast network of people, who could help market and make money from the apartments that were to be built at the Bitcoin Tower off-plan. This was the beginning of the start of the Bitcoin Tower project.
Excited about the prospect of the Bitcoin Tower project, Solomon said he decided to introduce Manuel to his long-time business partner Marcel Limbertus van Andel. Marcel was equally excited about the project.
“Marcel and I injected some money into the project while I provided the land. Manuel said he did not have that kind of money to invest, but would ensure money was generated through marketing of the apartments in Europe. As a result, we agreed that Marcel and I would own 70% of the shares in the Kasumai Real Estate agency, through which the project is being implemented, while Manuel would own 30% of the shares,” Tamba explained to this medium.
The ‘Betrayals’
The Bitcoin Tower project finally got off to a start and according to early indications reportedly given to Tamba and Marcel by Manuel, the apartments were selling well in the Europe market. The trouble, however, reportedly began when Marcel started to insist on answers for accountability and transparency questions, regarding the apartment sales and expenditures. Manuel reportedly told Tamba and Andel that he invested the proceeds in bitcoins, but their repeated requests for him to convert the coins to euros and dollars went unheeded.
“We have reasonable grounds to believe that Manuel was investing the proceeds from the Bitcoin Tower in cryptocurrency for personal gains. This man is sitting on more than six million euros that Marcel and I cannot access. We don’t still know who bought the apartments and for how much and when,” Solomon explained.
Tamba said 18 apartments at the Bitcoin Tower were sold, but he and Marcel did not see “any penny” from the sales and they, therefore, smelt the rat.
This suspicion was the basis of a criminal complaint that Tamba and Marcel lodged with the Gambian police against Manuel. Manuel reportedly told police investigators that the proceeds were lodged into his cryptocurrency wallets. He, however, refused investigators access to his laptop, containing details of the cryptocurrency transactions.
Consequently, the police charged him with the alleged offence of refusing to obey a lawful order and, he and his wife are currently undergoing trial at the Banjul Magistrates’ Court.
Tamba alleged that Manuel would incur expenses without prior consultation.
“We made it clear to him that he couldn’t be making expenses without our consent. I told him that you have gone extra to buy things without consulting us, you went into the whole Gambia that I was born and brought up in to make deals with people, companies to come and do certain things without even informing us,” further explained Tamba.
Plan to Buy Marcel Out of Bitcoin Tower Partnership
When the Bitcoin Tower project was conceived at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, there was not enough money but the partners believed in the project’s growth potential. And they were proven right, or at least that was what Manuel made them believe with his reported assurances about how the apartments were selling like hot cake in Europe. Within a few months into its implementation, Manuel reportedly began to bring in one piece of good market news after another to his partners about the project. But Marcel was cautious and suspicious. He then began to ask questions and insisted on answers. Solomon said this stubborn posture that Marcel adopted has apparently put Manuel and Angelika on edge.
“They were uncomfortable with Marcel’s persistent queries about money and expenditures to a point that they suggested that we buy Marcel out of the partnership with €400,000. They complained that Marcel was sitting in Ghana doing nothing and complaining. I made it clear to them that I have been doing business with Marcel for more than 20 years and we never had any problems. I told them I can’t do that but when I brought this issue to Marcel’s attention one day in a chat just to forewarn him of Manuel and Angelika’s plot, he said he could settle down to €1.5 million,” explained Tamba. He continued:”However, Angelika exclaimed that the amount was ridiculous and that they could offer only €600,000. I insisted that Manuel is not going to be paid nothing less than €1.5 million if they want to buy him out. Things deteriorated to a point that I had to convene a meeting at the Edge during which I told Manuel and Angelika that I wasn’t happy about the way things were going and I don’t want noise. I suggested to them that I was willing to surrender 10% of my shares in the Kasumai Real Estate agency if that would be the catalyst peace. I told them I was prepared to do this for peace to reign. I explained to them that money was not an issue for me even though I didn’t have enough. But they did not buy that idea and that was when I became suspicious that they were up to something. My understanding was that all that they were calculating was how to get the majority shares in the Kasumai Real Estate so that they can dominate us.”
Tamba said he realized in hindsight that this marked the beginning of “a sinister and an elaborate scheme by Manuel and Angelika to grab his investments”.
“I could have been their next casualty had they succeeded in elbowing Marcel out as I realized later when they attempted to forfeit my own shares at the Kasumai Real Estate agency and cause my farm to be confiscated because of a personal loan,” Tamba told JollofNews.
Tamba was reacting to some of the issues raised in an interview that The Fatu Network recently had with Manuel.
To be continued…
