Whiteflash-Diamond Playground

From Chinaview - Belgian judicial authorities have confiscated 14 million euros (20 million U.S. dollars) worth of illegal diamonds from Cote d’Ivoire and a diamond trader suspected of smuggling the diamonds has been arrested, Belgian broadcaster VRT reported Saturday. The diamonds from the African country are so-called “blood diamonds” - money earned from which is used to finance criminal organizations and armed conflicts, the report said. The Belgian public prosecutor confirmed on Friday that the main suspect is one of the business managers of Peri Diamond company. Investigations into the case started last year. If Peri Diamond is found guilty of the allegations, it will lose its permits in Belgium and on the stock exchanges, said Filip Claes of the Antwerp World Diamond Center, which officially represents the Belgian diamond sector. The fact that blood diamonds are still in circulation in Antwerp is a slap in the face for the Antwerp World Diamond Center. The coordinating body has taken great pains to tackle the problem of blood diamonds and launched a system to exclude them from trade in Belgium. Trade in blood diamonds is banned worldwide. But the certificates of origin for the blood diamonds are often tampered with and it is hard to ascertain that the diamonds are in fact from conflict areas. Antwerp is a world diamond trading center where 80 percent of the world’s rough diamonds and 50 percent of all cut diamonds are traded. In 2006 the Belgian diamond sector, mainly concentrated in Antwerp, had a turnover of 39 billion euros.