Kalistan

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Nightclub Magnate Edwin Bob killed; N&D Minister implicated
Apparent club promotion gone wrong turns out to be a lot dirtier
Bannerhafen, Narikaton & Darnussia
June 30, 5583


Edwin Bob, (Right) seen with business partner Jens van Kuillenberg and Adult Film Star Magda at High Life in Bannerhafen last winter

Kalistani expat Club promoter Edwin Bob, who has been living and working in the Dual Republic, has been killed in an apparent organized crime hit over a "deal gone wrong.  At least one high ranking member of the Dual Republic's government has been implicated in Mr. Bob's killing, and other political figures are already starting to distance themselves from the entire affair.

Mr. Bob was shot to death by private security agents last Tuesday night outside of the club he helped found in the Republic's capital, High Life, following a very public altercation with Mr. Heinrich Maximilian Fentje, who is the 2nd Vice Director for Majatran Affairs with the Dual Republican Government.  Witnesses reported that Mr. Bob was very upset about permits for a new club that Mr. Fentje was apparently blocking, and a verbal altercation between the two individuals turned into a physical fight between Bob and Fentje which spilled into the street, where the Director's security detail shot him fatally.

As people mourned the death of Edwin Bob, some of his business associates, led by Jens van Kuillenberg, from Bannerhafen, who was Bob's partner in High Life and worked as operating manager went to the police and filed reports that have subsequently been released to the Narik press.  The Bannerhafen Nachrichten printed the report, but buried it on page 6 in an effort to lower its profile, reported that van Kuillenberg said that the reason Bob and Fentje were arguing was because Bob was trying to obtain permits for a new club in Freiheit on Jorgen Island.  This club was meant to feature Bob's main features of dancing, DJing and Live Music, but also an off track horseracing establishment and a full service casino.

Van Kuillenburg explained that Fentje had called in favors with the various permit offices to prevent Bob from opening:  Delays in permit submission, inexplicably failed inspections, building delays and unreasonable work stoppages all combined to ensure that Bob's new club would not open.  As a result of its ultimate failure, Bob lost the equivalent of ₭28 million Rubles in sunk costs that could not be recuperated.

Van Kuillenberg said that, in a last ditch effort to get the club opened on time, he approached van Kuillenberg about releasing very sensitive information that Bob had on Minister Fentje, which involved drug trafficking from Kalistan, as well as scandalous sexual activity, including prostitution, involving adult film star Magda, who is a regular at both of Bob's clubs Sin and High Life and three other individuals who Van Kuillenberg said he did not know.  (Magda herself died under suspicious conditions last April, and her death was ultimately ruled to be a result of drug overdose.) 

Van Kuillenberg said he advised Bob not to do anything stupid, but Bob was adamant about approaching Fentje, which resulted in his death.  Van Kuillenberg said that he believed that Bob's new Club would be in direct competition to a club venture that Fentje himself had heavily invested in, which has subsequently been tied to organized criminal activity.

The Bannerhafen Nachrichten said Bob's computers were seized by police, but they had received an email file sent by Bob just an hour before his death, with several photographs attached that also seemed to implicate at least four other ministers, though the names or positions have not been released in public, due to the presumption of innocence and the ongoing investigation.  Whoever the other public officials are, or whatever their participation in the scandal, what is clear is that Bob's killing now appears to have been a hit by associates of Mr. Fentje who believed that they could get rid of Bob and keep a lid on the scandal.

"I'm guessing they were waiting for him," said Van Kuillenberg, speaking to the Kalistani Republic this week.  "I think that Eddie kind of forced their hand when he was gunned down, and what was supposed to be something that was done sub rosa was instead done in the street outside of High Life.  Eddie was a weirdo, and he was into a lot of stuff, but he wasn't linked to organized crime and I think that was what did him in.  He was at least clean..."

Van Kuillenberg and Michael Levine, Edwin Bob's partner, have left Narikaton and Darnissua to seek asylum in Kalistan, where Bob and Levine are from originally.  "I don't plan on staying in Kalistan," said Van Kuillenberg in Kaliburg, " and I want to continue to cooperate with my own government in the investigation, but I really don't feel safe right now in Bannerhafen, given that I think Eddie was killed by assassins.  When the investigation closes, I will make my way back home because Kalistan may be Kalistan, but its no Narikaton."  Edwin Bob's assets in N&D have been frozen by the Government and his clubs have been closed while the investigation is ongoing.  If Edwin Bob is exonerated of any crimes, his clubs will likely be sold off to Republican investors and Bob's share of the proceeds will be repatriated to Bob's Holding Company, Pleasure Unlimited, which is currently been put into receivership in Kalistan.