The German police are investigating Uwe Gemballa for financial impropriety, further increasing suspicion that his disappearance was staged to avoid financial difficulties.

The financial crime in question is called “insolvenzverschleppung” (You’ve got to love the Germans and their insanely weird and huge names for everything). It is when a person fails to file for insolvency within a reasonable timeframe. As we know, his wife filed for insolvency on his behalf not long before his disappearance. The police believe that they didn’t file in a reasonable timeframe, hence the charges. However, this isn’t by any means definite proof that the disappearance was staged.

Many believe that Gembella is hiding in Angola. It’s close to South Africa, a relatively easy place to hide in, and has a Gemballa dealership. However, Gemballa’s Agent in Angola, Cid Kus, says that he hasn’t heard from him, and is certain that if Gemballa were in Angola, he would tell him.

It has also been discovered that Uwe Gemballa was supposed to meet Czech billionaire Radovan Krejcir to discuss setting up a franchise in South Africa, but Radovan claims that the meeting never occurred and he doesn’t know of Gemballa’s whereabouts.

The worst and strangest part of this all though, is that Gemballa’s family has suspended the 10,000 Euro reward for information on Uwe Gemballa’s location. It really suggests that either Gemballa’s family hates him, or that they know where he is but don’t wish to tell anyone (Further adding to the possibility of this being staged). We’ll see how this story develops.

Source: Auto Service Praxis and Stuttgarter-Zeitung via Jalopnik and The Sunday Times via Jalopnik | Image: ducktail964 / CC-BY-2.0