In what was initially hailed as a promising investment venture in Rwanda, two British investors, Paul Foster and Adam Bradford, find themselves embroiled in a dispute, bringing an end to what once seemed like a lucrative opportunity for both parties and Rwanda, being the bigger beneficiary.
The conflict has now reached a breaking point, with allegations of breach of agreement, failure to honor obligations, lying to Rwandan authorities, mistrust, and more.
Taarifa learned about the saga from a post made by Bradford on LinkedIn.
Although Bradford was not forthcoming with details on the matter, the Taarifa team embarked on reaching out to all possible sources to get to the bottom of Bradford’s resignation post, which was heavily loaded and insinuating that there was a much deeper fallout than communicated.
The breaking point is, at some point, a high-level meeting was held at RDB, and one partner allegedly lied to Rwandan authorities, as stipulated in the numerous evidence files that Taarifa has acquired. This did not settle well with the other partner who was not willing to lie with a lie.
According to an inside source privy to details related to business relations between the two Britons, the saga began a week after both parties pooled their resources together to form one holding company in Rwanda that had under it CO2 Capital (Gibraltar) Limited, Crucial Compliance Limited, among others.
The holding company emerged under the name Combined Solutions Group (CSG) Limited.
Sources have since indicated that when CSG kicked off, Paul was to run the company at a tune of US$25,000.
The company was set up, business plans drawn, and highly qualified staff were recruited, signing contractual agreements. All seemed rosy on paper and on the go.
However, a week after the business was set in motion, tensions began to rise. Foster instructed the Kigali team to cut down its budget by 50 percent. This left the company with no operational funds but just salaries.
As time went on, Foster remotely attempted to run the Kigali office, hiring and firing whoever he wanted without the knowledge of the team in Kigali.
After a few months from setting up the holding company, Foster flew to Kigali around November 2023, and in a surprise turn of events, the already struggling company was instructed to cut its expenditures by 50 percent again, the source said.
For that to happen, the first cut was from the company’s top executives. They forfeited their salaries in hope that the company would kick start and they would eventually get their salaries reinstated and compensated. That never happened.
At that time, Foster strategically deemed all top managers incompetent and eventually had them either resign or fired, yet he had never worked closely with them to assess their competence.
Meanwhile, Bradford had paid employees with his own money, which he is now suing Foster, and this matter is with the local police, according to our source.
CSG is not the only victim. Claims around Foster have rotated in circles ever since we started digging deeper into the matter.
Apparently, CSG is one of the many that Foster had hoodwinked. Crucial Compliance foe example, is his Gibraltar-based gaming compliance business. It was the founder of the hackathons.
When Foster was attempting to enter the Rwandan market, he started off with hosting hackathons competitions.
Two events were hosted in January and April 2023. The competition went well, and there emerged two winners in the two events, who were promised scholarships at a tune of US$15,000 combined.
But up to date (14 months later), they have no trace of Foster, the money, or the promise they were given.
Details regarding this competition and what went bad will be shared in a follow-up article.
A simple Google search has pinged Foster high within Gibraltar.
He is a CEO of the following companies: Crucial Compliance Gibraltar, Combined Solutions Group Gibraltar, and Former CEO Gibraltar Betting Gaming Association, all significant businesses.
Foster is currently the focus of two major criminal investigations. One, led by Interpol, is linked to hacking activities targeting businesses in Rwanda.
The other, conducted by UK investigators centering on “threats to kill”.
Taarifa has obtained substantial evidence related to these investigations, but the details will be withheld until our investigations are concluded.
Foster is also subject to two civil actions which are getting filed.
It is a developing story …