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.
This is part two of Tamba’s response to Manuel’s claims on The Fatu Network published a little over a fortnight ago:
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 European 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 from the apartment sales in Bitcoins, but their repeated requests for him to convert the cryptocurrency to euros and dollars went unheeded.
“We have reasonable grounds to believe that Manuel invested 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 still don’t know who bought the apartments, and for how much and when,” Solomon explained.
Tamba said 18 apartments at the Bitcoin Tower have already been sold, but added that 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 national police against Manuel. Manuel reportedly told police investigators that the proceeds from the apartment sales were lodged into his cryptocurrency wallets and vaults. 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 the extra mile to purchase things without consulting us. I also once told him that you went around the whole Gambia in which I was born and brought up to make deals with people and companies to come and do certain things without informing us prior,”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 proved right or, at least, that was what Manuel reportedly made them believe with his reported assurances about how the apartments were selling in Europe like hot cakes. Within a few months into its implementation, Manuel reportedly began to relay 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 tough stance that Marcel adopted on accountability and transparency had 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 but only 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 issues. I made it categorically clear to them that 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 for €1.5 million,” explained Tamba. He continued:”However, when I informed them[Angelika and Manuel] about what Marcel said, Angelika exclaimed that the amount was crazy 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 indeed wanted 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 for peace. I told them that I was prepared to do this just 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…
