The Sheriff of the High Court of The Gambia, Mr. Omar Jabang, has explained that his involvement in the construction efforts at the Bitcoin Tower was as a result of a high court order that the project be continued without any let or hindrance.
According to judicial sources, Gambian and Dutch investors Ebrima Solomon Tamba and Marcel van Andel Limbertus have been fighting tooth and nail to ensure a halt to the construction efforts at the Bitcoin Tower in Bijilo after suspecting shady deals on the part of their Austrian partner Manuel Stofleth Mitterer. The duo lodged a criminal complaint with the Gambian police against the Austrian following his failure to disclose details of the financial transactions about their real estate business.
The trio, according to informed sources, entered into a partnership agreement to sell apartments off-plan and despite Manuel’s assurances to Tamba and Limbertus that the apartments were doing quite well in the European market, he couldn’t show them where the money from the purported sales had gone to. He reportedly claimed that the proceeds were lodged into his cryptocurrency account but refused the police access to the account when they demanded as part of their criminal investigation against him.
Manuel is currently undergoing trial at a magistrates’ court in the Gambian capital, Banjul for allegedly disobeying a lawful order.
Solomon and Marcel were reportedly keen on knowing how many apartments had Manuel actually sold, at what cost and to who.
Despite the pressure from both his partners and the national police, Manuel had reportedly refused to render an account of the money.
However, his partners’ efforts to prevent the continuation of their Bitcoin Tower project until Manuel gave an account of the previous financial transactions had reportedly failed as the Banjul High Court sometime ago issued an order to the Sheriff Division to ensure the implementation of the project without any impediment.
The Sheriff of the High Court of The Gambia has been involved in facilitating the execution of the Bitcoin Tower project and when our reporter met him at his office in Banjul, the Sheriff showed him a document from the high court, mandating the Sheriff Division to ensure the implementation of the Bitcoin Tower project without any impediment.
Meanwhile, Solomon Tamba and Marcel Limbertus were reportedly feeling “very unprotected” as millions of dalasi worth of their investment could go unaccounted for.
“Manuel claimed that he converted the money from their previous investment to cryptocurrency but when his partners asked him to convert the crypto to convertible currencies such as euro and dollar, he refused. Despite all this, the Gambian authorities have allowed Manuel to proceed with the Bitcoin Tower project,” one source told JollofNews.
There were earlier reports that Manuel Stofleth Mitterer had been enjoying the support of influential figures in the system.
When asked whether it was a fair practice for any official financial transactions to be carried out as regards the Bitcoin Tower project when Tamba and Limbertus were said to be fighting for its stoppage, the Sheriff of the High Court gave a terse reply: “Go and ask the high court. This is a court order and I have no personal interest in it.”
