Bonaparte’s Latest Attack May Be Fatal
August 18, 05 by Chaim Even-ZoharCharles Wyndham calls him Bonaparte, or, in a more friendly manner when in a good mood, just “Boney”. To me it has always been Martin Rapaport or “Mike” – I refrain from referring to him as “Rap” as this creates confusion as to whether it refers to a person or a written table. But today... Read More...
A Case Study: VNU as its Competitor’s “Best Promoter”
August 11, 05 by Chaim Even-Zohar“Defending a reputation starts with thinking the unthinkable and then planning for that eventuality.” That’s nicely said in an academic context. The question, which the media giant VNU’s managers must have asked themselves over and over again in the past week, is how do you prevent managers making stupid decisions which... Read More...
Rapper Kanye West Hurts African Prospects – Just to Satisfy His Own Greed For Dollars
August 04, 05 by Chaim Even-ZoharThe American Civil War and the Sierra Leone Civil War have something in common: they were tragic, and many innocents were killed -- but they are both history. After the hostilities, the peoples united – determined to build a better future for all. Read More...
The DTC: Pushing Prices or Pushing Carats?
July 28, 05 by Chaim Even-ZoharI was never good at English literature but wasn’t it William Shakespeare who uttered the immortal words: “to stock or not to stock, that’s the question”? De Beers diamond sales in the first half of 2005 came to $3.22 billion, which was 7% beyond the sales of first half 2004 of $2.98 billion. But the increase of sales didn’t provide much... Read More...
Welcome to Diamdel Pharmacy, Dispensing Prescriptions in Milligrams
July 21, 05 by Chaim Even-ZoharBased on rudimentary arithmetic, each of the well over 500 clients of Diamdel worldwide will get an average of about $1 million a year worth of diamonds from the DTC’s rough trading subsidiary. Many clients, if not most, will get substantially less. In spite of these less than impressive averages... Read More...
Sierra Leone to Tender for Independent Government Diamond Valuator
July 14, 05 by Chaim Even-ZoharThe Government of Sierra Leone, at the highest level, has decided to internationally tender the Independent Diamond Valuer’s contract. The contract with the current valuator, Martyn Marriott from Diamond Counsellor’s International, has expired and in the past few months there have been many discussions in Freetown on... Read More...
Israel’s Diamond Industry to Become AML/CFT Compliant
July 07, 05 by Chaim Even-ZoharThe Israel Money Laundering Prohibition Authority (IMPA) has notified the Israeli diamond industry of its intention to implement those of the FATF 40 Recommendations and its 8 Special Recommendations which apply to designated non-financial businesses and professions, including the... Read More...
Corporate Life Sentences
June 30, 05 by Chaim Even-ZoharThe news that after two convictions by different courts the State Bank of India in Antwerp has been cleared of all its money laundering charges is certainly a cause for a sigh of relief. It isn’t that no money laundering had taken place—the facts speak for themselves – but it had more to do with the responsibility and liability of... Read More...
The DDI: A Movement-in-the-Making
June 23, 05 by Chaim Even-ZoharIan Smillie, the always somber and serious looking peace activist, has just completed an extensive presentation on the Diamond Development Initiative (DDI) to a working group of the Kimberley Process in Moscow. It may be recalled that this joint initiative, launched in late 2004 by De Beers, Global Witness and Partnership Africa... Read More...
Due Diligence: Mission Impossible?
June 16, 05 by Chaim Even-ZoharConsider a hypothetical question: Will you buy diamonds from Frank T? Frank T. is exploring for diamonds in Sierra Leone. His company’s diamond concession areas exceed 12,000 square kilometers (almost half of the country’s diamond fields) and it seems a sure bet that Frank may well become a major source of high quality... Read More...
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