De Beers Diamond Cartel

[Magda Hassan]

De Beers,Crime and the Kimberley Process

uploaded by stanhope57 April 22, 2008 at 05:48 am
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UN in the greatest diamond "price-fixing" cartel ever.The failure of mainstream media, particularly in Namibia, to report the truth about Oppenheimer/De Beers diamond activities requires a response.The establishment of the "Kimberley Process" is the result of Oppenheimer/De Beers years of refined manipulative and intimidating stratagem, employed after the UN investigation into blood diamonds to get the United Nations and particularly those African diamond producing countries mentioned to sing along in a "Kimberley Process", for clean diamonds.The process also serves so beautifully to elevate and perpetuate Oppenheimer's control of diamonds internationally, whilst evading criminal charges related to illegal diamond trading, theft and fraud and the "blood diamond stigma" - a main contributor to the diamond wars, during 1992.
The "Kimberly Process" organization has been conceived out of sin and is cemented in "blood diamonds". It is not an organization that the United Nations and civil society should find itself associated with if it knew the facts. Why should Oppenheimer be allowed to perpetuate his diamond monopoly, and be immune against prosecution under European legislation governing international corporate practice?
At present the following cases appear to place them above the law and just ridicule formal establishments.
In 1992 in London the NBC (Namibian Broadcasting Corporation), at the occasion of the visit of the Prime Minister of Namibia to Oppenheimer's offices in London, recorded on video a weekly consignment of illegally mined Angolan diamonds valued at US$14 million. These buying agents (Steinmetz, Arslanian freres, lazare kaplan-Tempelsman) of De Beers fled Angola, robbing that country in taxes and now operate in Namibia.
American authorities had already become aware of De Beers (representatives) corporate strategies to fix prices on industrial diamonds in 1991/2. Subjected to arrest if they set foot in the United States, it took until 2004 for De Beers to acknowledge US jurisdiction and plead quilty to the charges in federal court in Ohio Columbus. (Jim Leckorne reported).At the same time, another illegal african diamond operation (the Pearson operation), executed from Johannesburg by Brigadier Knoessen, Chief Security Consultant for Anglo American and De Beers, and run in conjunction with the diamond police in Cape Town and Namibia, was operating in Windhoek buying illegal diamonds from Angola. In July 1993 a complaint concerning these illegal activities, which included rhino horn and elephant tusks, was made at the Chief of Police in Namibia (gold and diamond branch) in the company of a lawyer. The complaint was not investigated, but instead on the 17th August 1993, a false counter charge and conviction was prepared against the complainant, and engineered by De Beers Executives Robert Abel Gower, Trevor Stacey and Roger Burchell, the Prosecutor General Hans Heyman the police and members of the judiciary, Danie Small and K. Miller to cover-up De Beers illegal diamond buying and/or theft of diamonds.

Another fraudulent diamond trapping case, engineered to eliminate De Beers critic Gordon Brown came before the same Judge (Nic Hannah), where jail terms were given, when he relied on a single State witness, who subsequently in a sworn statement (obtained by a private investigator from England) confessed (before a Windhoek magistrate) that the evidence on which the conviction was made, was false. The Scottish Sunday times understands how it suffered by exposing the truth.

This window into the illegal operations being conducted in 1992 by Oppenheimers companies came at a time when in 1993, the Security Council adopted resolution 864 of 1993, concerning the devastating situation in Angola. What exactly the facts are before the Security Council is not known, but the effect illegal diamond revenues was having on creating "this devastating situation in Angola" was a hot public issue. It took 5 years for a team to assemble before an investigation could begin and during this time De Beers and those mentioned above continued in the illicit trade and "only" bought US$80m in 1995. When the UN investigating team reached Namibia it was lame, local police operatives working with Oppenheimer's companies were included in the team. This reflects very poorly on the Security Council and the United Nations sincere efforts in the first place.
The evidence from the Namibian police dockets, exposes the longstanding, illegal influence, and close cooperation between the police, judiciary, the prosecution and Oppenheimer's employees, who have, conspired to prosecuted and convicted people on false evidence and in this way are never prosecuted and thus are able to continue operating "above" the law..
In 2003, De Beers manipulative strategies and actions were revealed when the Namibian Government attempted to compare the international diamond price with the price of US$150/carat it was receiving from De Beers at the time, by executing its right to do so in terms of section 58/9 of the Diamond Act. The Government pursued an 18-month struggle and eventually got a Presidential Cabinet resolution past and subsequent action letter issued to the Minister to sell the diamonds, but persistent threats, Bribery and/or blackmail by Oppenheimer's New York associate Maurice Tempelsman undermined the State and the sale came to nothing. Mail + Guardian. 2nd-7th August 2002. Front page. Namibia now looses hundreds of dollars per carat, on which duty would be calculated and accrue to the State. This action excluded international diamond companies from bidding on Namibian diamonds.
Many victims of Oppenheimers illegal activities survive carrying false convictions and very few can put up a defense against this secretive family cartel, while they have the police and other government members in their pockets. Assistance to bring them before accountable Courts of Law in Namibia, Europe, America and England is needed. Because the Namibian government is compromised and not in a situation, to dispense justice on these crimes, the British High Commission(BHC) in Windhoek, Namibia, was requested to indicate why Consolidated Diamond Mines (CDM) and/or De Beers Financial Services and/or any director or employee of the said companies, in particular Mr. Oppenheimer (Headquartered in London), should not be prosecuted for these crimes. The High Commissioner confirmed in writing that the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London had received the request. In 2005 another letter from the BHC shed no light on the request and simply raises the question to what extent is the British Government influenced on these diamond matters ? From whence cometh the birth of De Beers, so cometh the name of the "Kimberly Process".
A De Beers stratagem entirely, of self-interest and protection against prosecution now policing itself on an international level. A corporate achievement after 100 years of world dominance in the exploitation of Namibian and South African diamonds and precious minerals now incorporates the UN (United Nations) in the greatest price-fixing cartel ever.
The Oppenheimer laws on diamonds should be dismantled and brought in line with other goods on the open market so that all buyers have the opprtunity to bid and thus obtain a realistic market price. It is in the public interest and long overdue that independent news media investigate these allegations and shed international light on these crimes (and other linked crimes ; for example, the bombing of the United Nations office in Outjo, Namibia, and the murder of Advocate Anton Lubowski, in 1989). The United Nations/Security Council's first obligation to Namibia is an investigation into the bombing of its office in Outjo, Namibia where one person was killed, and during the escape of the perpetrators a policeman was killed. Charles Courtney-Clarke Swakopmund. Namibia."RE E MERITO"




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