Africa

Africa, Politics

Man who received ‘blood diamonds’ for Mandela fund resigns

Jeremy Ratcliffe, the man named by Naomi Campbell as the person she handed her gift of uncut diamonds, which allegedly came from Charles Taylor, said he will resign from the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund. Ratcliffe kept the suspect diamonds, which were intended to benefit the NMCF, for 13 years without informing anybody else at the Fund, and only handed them over to police after Campbell had named him in her testimony. The fund trustee and former CEO also offered his apologies to the fund for endangering their reputations and leaving himself open to criminal prosecution. Ratcliffe said he had kept the diamonds to protect the reputations of Naomi Campbell and the fund and Nelson Mandela himself. Since it is common knowledge that possession of uncut diamonds without a licence is illegal in South Africa, one might ask why Mr. Ratcliffe didn't promptly hand the stones over to police 13 years ago. Read more: The AFP and the Guardian.

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