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EU court upholds decision to freeze assets of ‘conflict diamond traders’
4:09 CAT | 26 Jul 2017
Getty Images / Belgian authorities seized two diamond parcels sent to Kadiam's offices in Antwerp back in 2014
An EU court has upheld a 2015 decision by the European Council to freeze the assets of two companies accused of purchasing and selling “conflict diamonds” originating in the Central African Republic (CAR).
The Bureau d’achat de Diamant en Centrafrique (Badica) and its Belgian sister company Kardiam had challenged the decision.
International trade sanctions were first applied to CAR in 2013 when it was suspended from the Kimberly Process, an international certification scheme which works to prevent the sale of so-called conflict diamonds by armed groups.
In a statement today, the General Court of the European Union listed the grounds on which the European Council based its 2015 decision.
Both sides in CAR’s civil conflict, the Seleka and anti-Balaka, profited from support given to them by Badica and Kadiam, it says.
Former Seleka forces “imposed taxes on aircraft transporting diamonds and received security payments from diamond collectors”, according to the European Council.
It also says that traders involved in the trafficking of diamonds from CAR to foreign markets were operating on behalf of Badica in neighbouring Cameroon.
Source: BBC
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