A Little Gift Can Cause Serious Trouble

Diamonds are always surrounded by controversy as they are very valuable and can make men do things that they would not normally do. Money and power are two things that many people strive to achieve at any cost, but the trade of diamonds can be illegal. When you trade in blood diamonds, or diamonds that have funded rebels in Africa, you are committing a crime. Although most reputable diamond traders on deal in clean diamonds, some blood diamonds still make it to market. Unfortunately, somewhere down the line, these diamonds were sold and the money may have contributed to violence through the purchase of gins that eventually could have led to deaths. The Kimberley Process has sought to eliminate the sale of such stones on the open market to help curb the violence seen surrounding the diamond mining industry in and around Sierra Leone.. Lawmakers have been seeking to punish those who have been involved in such trading and a recent story has surfaced about Naomi Campbell receiving three small uncut diamonds from an alleged blood diamond trader. The man in question is alleged to be involved in the illegal diamond trade in African and gave Ms. Campbell the stones while she was visiting the country.

Charles Taylor is under investigation for his actions and participation in blood diamonds as well as violence in the Sierra Leone area. He met Ms. Campbell at a dinner that was attended by Ms. Campbell, Mia Farrow, Quincy Jones as well as other high-end celebrities. Later in the evening it is alleged that a representative of Mr. Taylor’s gave Ms. Campbell three stones that were of unknown material. She alleges that she gave them to a friend named Jeremy Ractliffe who identified them as diamonds and kept them in his care as he was sure that Ms. Campbell could not take the illegal stones ot of the country. Originally, Ms. Campbell wanted to use the money from the sale of the stones for the Mandela Children’s Fund, but Ractliffe suggested that the sale of illegal items would be frowned upon by the public as well as the foundation, so that idea was eventually abandoned.

In the legal case of Charles Taylor, the prosecution had hoped that Ms. Campbell’s testimony would link Taylor to the illegal trade, but unfortunately the diamonds were not give to Ms. Campbell directly but by some associates of Taylor, thus making a direct link to him very difficult. Eventually, they hope to have enough evidence to convict Taylor of the crime of trading diamonds for arms, but at the moment, things are not going as well as planned and prosecutors have continued on their search for concrete evidence to convict Taylor, which may or may not eventually come from testimony from Naomi Campbell. The stones that she did receive must be analyzed first before they can pursue any other charges including those against Ractliffe, who was aware of the diamonds and where they had come from when he received them from Ms. Campbell.