The Antwerp World Diamond Centre has strongly denounced the accusations made in a statement by Global Witness regarding three shipments of diamonds from Zimbabwe which were traded in Antwerp between December 2013 and September 2014. It said that several initiatives were taken to before deciding to proceed with the auctions at that time.

Earlier, the NGO had claimed that European sanctions that were enforced against Zimbabwe may have been violated, because of the sale of the three shipments of Zimbabwean diamonds in Antwerp, which may have indirectly benefitted the ZDI (Zimbabwe Defence Industries). According to the Global Witness, ZDI may be a shareholder of Anjin, the Chinese company that sold the goods.

AWDC points out that the NGOs assertion was based on a statement by the Zimbabwean State Secretary for Mines, Gift Chimanikire (MDC), in the Zimbabwean parliament in December 2012. However, AWDC pointed out, this statement was dispelled a month later, by the Minister of Finance, Tendai Biti (MDC). It reiterated that the company Anjin itself was never on the European sanctions list.

Ari Epstein, CEO AWDC said that the sales took place after the European Union decided in September 2013, to lift the sanctions on Zimbabwe. He stressed that AWDC took a number of initiatives before proceeding with the sale, including:

• An investigation into the structures behind mining company Anjin and other mining companies active in Marange and Chimanimani, which revealed that there was no indication that the legal entity ZDI was co-owner of Anjin.
• A request to the Kimberley Process, the collaborating organization between industry, governments and NGO’s, including Global Witness until 2011, whether or not diamonds, bought in Zimbabwe (Harare) were allowed to be imported under the existing KP conditions. The KPCS’s response to this request was positive.
• Explicitly asking the European Union whether Zimbabwean goods could be imported to Antwerp and paid for. The European Commision responded positive to this inquiry.

Epstein said, “AWDC is convinced all due diligence was performed adequately with sufficient guarantees that only conflict-free diamonds, conforming fully with EU sanctions policies, were traded in Antwerp.”

AWDC also pointed out that some 550 shipments of diamonds are being processed in Antwerp on a daily basis and each and every shipment is controlled in detail. These extensive controls are an absolute priority for Antwerp.