Bitcoin Tower: Where Did the Missing D13 Million Go?

A new criminal complaint has raised fresh questions over D18 million recorded as development fees connected to The Gambia Tourism Board (GTBoard), after an independent audit found supporting receipts for only D5 million.

Documentation supporting the remaining D13 million has still not been produced.

The issue is at the centre of a criminal complaint filed by Austrian architect and investor Manuel Stofleth-Mitterer against Gambian businessman Ebrima Solomon Tamba and Dutch investor Marcel van Andel, his business partners in Kasumai Real Estate, the company behind Bitcoin Tower and The Edge developments in Bijilo.

According to an independent audit from August 2025, D18 million was recorded as GTBoard development-fee expenditure reportedly processed through Tamba. When supporting documents were requested, receipts totalling only D5 million were produced, leaving D13 million without supporting documentation.

The auditors recommended that the entire D18 million be traced and that written confirmation be obtained from both GTBoard and Tamba.

The history of the land raises further questions.

In 2019, GTBoard allocated tourism land to Tamba under conditions that included a development levy equivalent to five percent of the total project cost. In 2023, GTBoard issued Kasumai Real Estate a registered 50-year sublease over the relevant land.

That raises a key question: had the original development levy already been paid, waived, deferred or otherwise dealt with before the sublease was issued, and on what basis did the later D18 million development-fee expenditure arise?

Earlier development plans reviewed by The Fatu Network also identify a wider Bijilo site as belonging to Tamba and van Andel.

In February 2023, Kasumai Real Estate purchased the Bitcoin Tower plot from Sanna Sambou for €230,000. A signed receipt confirms that Sambou received the purchase price on behalf of the company.

However, the available documents do not conclusively establish whether Tamba or van Andel previously held rights over the specific Bitcoin Tower plot or whether any such interest was disclosed to Kasumai.

The complaint also raises questions over a separate D2 million transferred to Tamba’s personal bank account on February 24th, 2026.

According to Manuel, the money was provided following representations concerning a GTBoard or government payment. The complaint states that he does not have an official GTBoard demand corresponding to the payment or documentary proof showing that the D2 million was subsequently paid to GTBoard or used for the stated purpose.

The financial questions were also not new to the police.

Manuel says the relevant company financial records had already been provided to investigators during a police investigation in 2025. He says the independent audit identifying the unsupported D13 million was also submitted to police in August 2025.

Yet one month earlier, in July 2025, Tamba and van Andel had themselves filed criminal allegations of fraud and theft against Manuel.

Whether those allegations were based on false information is now the subject of a separate criminal complaint already reported by The Fatu Network under the headline: “Bitcoin Tower: Counter-Complaint Questions Whether Police Were Used Against Austrian Investors.”

The latest complaint asks police to independently investigate the representations made concerning the alleged government fees, trace the movement and ultimate recipients of the funds and establish how the full D18 million was applied.

It does not claim that the undocumented D13 million was necessarily stolen or misappropriated, and no wrongdoing by van Andel in relation to the individual financial transfers has been established.

But the unanswered questions remain significant.

Who requested or represented the D18 million as payable? Who ultimately received the money? Why were receipts produced for only D5 million? And what steps have police taken since receiving the audit in August 2025 to establish what happened to the remaining D13 million?

Mr Tamba previously responded at length to questions from The Fatu Network, but did not provide receipts or other documents accounting for the D13 million identified by the audit as unsupported.