'We've lost £200k to Dover Citadel entrepreneur', say investors

Two men who invested £200,000 into a start-up business owned by an entrepreneur who planned to redevelop the Dover Citadel say they fear they will never see their money again. The pair put their cash into a building technology company called System de Min, owned by David de Min, the director of Dover Citadel Ltd. One of the creditors, who has begun bankruptcy proceedings against de Min to try to recover his money, said the situation was "heartbreaking" because they had "trusted someone". But de Min's lawyers said their client had been the victim of a scam which had left him and investors with "an empty shell" of a business, and that he did not "personally owe any money to the investor". When System de Min was created as a limited company in 2022, de Min began to secure early investment for his construction technology business. In 2024, WhatsApp messages seen by the BBC between de Min and the investor, who wishes to remain anonymous, reveal the pair had a good rapport and both seemed excited about the project. The entrepreneur told the man he had been offered "€40m from the Spanish government" to build a factory, "approval" from "one of the biggest families in Europe putting in £10m