(Business in Cameroon) - Cryptocurrency trading firm Global Investment Trading, popularly known as Liyeplimal, is since February 14, 2022, at the center of a new controversy. On Facebook videos, its promoter, Emile Parfait Simb, is accused of scamming ‘investors’. 

In another video, people are seen protesting in front of Liyeplimal’s agency near pharmacy Loloko in Douala-Bonapriso. These people are said to be ‘investors’ tired of waiting for a word from Emile Parfait Simb in vain.  

To get the accused party’s comments on the wave of protests, Business in Cameroon contacted Emile Parfait Simb. The goal was to find out whether ‘investors’ have been scammed and if the promoter has left Cameroon as rumors claim. However, all the questions came unanswered. Instead, we got automated replies on Whatsapp. ‘I’m no more on Whatsapp. Click on this link to download the first mobile instant messaging app created by myself Simb Emile Parfait, a true African. Long live the digital economy, Long live Liyeplimal. With Liyeplimal, there will be no more pain…," reads the automated reply. 

In October 2020, Barrister Dominique Fousse, through her law firm Fousse, referred to the Special Criminal Court, Cameroon’s institution habilitated to rule on crimes and fund misappropriation cases involving amounts exceeding XAF50 million. In the letter she sent to the court, she accused  Global Investment Trading (GIT SA) and its promoter of funds misappropriation and fraud.    

According to the law firm Fousse, for years now, GIT SA has been raising funds from the public through illegal public offerings. In June 2021, the CEMAC financial watchdog COSUMAF brought similar accusations against Liyeplimal. Specifically, the watchdog accused GIT SA and several other firms of unlawfully collecting “funds from the public as equity participation, financial, real estate or rolling stock investments with the promise of returns amounting to 100 to 500% of the principals within unreasonable timescales.”

In an interview published on November 1, 2021, by private media Mutations, Émile Parfait Simb replied to those accusations.

"The tragedy is that those who are criticizing [cryptocurrency investments] do not even know what it is.  If Donald Trump has a crypto coin, who am I not to follow suit? If Paris Saint Germain has a crypto coin, who is Simb not to follow that trend? We must imitate a good example, we must imitate what is working elsewhere. I’m not the creator of cryptocurrency. I’m just emulating what is working in other places,” he said.

Sylvain Andzongo