South African police continue their investigation into the disappearance of Uwe Gemballa, founder of GEMBALLA Automobiletechnik GmbH, one of the best known Porsche tuners.
The story however gets more questionable as the days go on, allegations of tax evasion and financial mismanagement at Gemballa Automobiltechnik GmbH & Co led German authorities to raid Gemballa headquarters and seize all the vehicles in stock.
Then it was reported that Uwe Gemballa had opened a second company GEMBALLA Sports Cars GmbH & Co, with his 79-year-old mother as the sole stockholder on the day that he left for his trip to Dubai and South Africa. At the same time he also granted his wife power of attorney to register the existing company, Gemballa Automobiletechnik, for insolvency.
South African authorities are working with German police to investigate the likelihood of a kidnapping – especially since Gemballa is reported to have phoned his wife and asked her to wire 1 million Euros to a bank in South Africa.
Gemballa was apparently in South Africa to consider opening a dealership in Johannesburg, but questions over his company’s financial health have now increased speculation that Uwe’s ‘disappearance” might not have been quite so accidental.
German authorities have confirmed that two police officers have been dispatched to South Africa to assist local authorities with their investigations, but thus far there is no trace of Uwe Gemballa.
