Bitcoin Tower: Counter-Complaint Questions Whether Police Were Used Against Austrian Investors

𝘕𝘦𝘸 𝘊𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳-𝘊𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘵 𝘙𝘢𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘴 𝘘𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘈𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘊𝘪𝘳𝘤𝘶𝘮𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘴 𝘉𝘦𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘊𝘳𝘪𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘐𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘨𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯

Austrian entrepreneur Manuel Stofleth-Mitterer has filed a counter-complaint against his business partners, Ebrima Solomon Tamba and Marcel van Andel. He is calling for an independent investigation into whether the two men knowingly provided false or misleading information to Gambian police about him and his wife, Angelika Mitterer, in July 2025.

The couple has lived in The Gambia for more than five years and, together with international investors, has invested several million euros in the country, including in the real estate projects The Edge and Bitcoin Tower. A dispute among the shareholders led to a police complaint alleging theft and fraud in July 2025. Police subsequently brought criminal charges against the couple.

On 10 June 2026, a Gambian court acquitted both of them in a related case involving alleged disobedience to lawful orders. The original allegations of theft and fraud were not the subject of that ruling.

Documents now raise new questions about the origins of the police complaint.

On 4 July 2025, Manuel provided his business partners with extensive financial records relating to both construction projects, including payment overviews, investor lists and other business documents.

Two days later, according to Manuel’s lawyer, Tamba received a letter seeking to enforce a personal debt of €165,000. The letter requested that he sign the necessary documents to transfer the company shares pledged as security for the debt. The demand was based on a loan agreement from 2023.

On 7 July, Manuel received a letter jointly signed by Tamba and van Andel. In it, the two men acknowledged receiving the lawyer’s letter the previous day and announced that they would respond to it the following day.

On 8 July, Tamba and van Andel filed a criminal complaint against Manuel and Angelika Mitterer with the Serious Crime Unit in Banjul, alleging theft.

Also relevant is a statement allegedly made by Tamba on 13 June 2026, which The Fatu Network has previously reported. According to an incident report signed by several witnesses who were present, Tamba told Manuel:

“I reported you to the police because you sold my shares.”

The statement raises the question of whether the police complaint was based solely on suspected criminal conduct or whether the dispute over the company shares also played a role.

Through his counter-complaint, Stofleth-Mitterer is asking the authorities to examine the original statements and evidence and determine whether the police may have been drawn into a private business dispute through false or incomplete information. Whether knowingly false information was provided has not yet been established.

Was the criminal complaint against the Austrian couple connected to the dispute over Tamba’s company shares? And were Gambian police drawn into what began as a private business dispute?