The very broad legislation enacted in the U.S. (and elsewhere) to aid law enforcement officials in the search for terrorists and seizure of their assets, has given expression to the U.S. public's willingness to forfeit a considerable amount of privacy in favour of enhanced safety.

According to reliable sources, U.S. Federal agents recently reviewed some of ABN-AMRO's diamond and gem and jewellery portfolio in New York, "raising questions on the bona fides, connections and antecedents of clients."

ABN-AMRO sources are confident that nothing unusual was detected. The portfolios of American banks are routinely checked, but this year the questioning about clients has been more pointed, with a view to trying to identify possible sources of money laundering in connection with al Qaeda and more generally with terrorism.

Only partly in jest, one may declare that ABN-AMRO's N.Y. clients are now "approved by the FBI" (or by whatever applicable agency), so these customers must be the best and the finest - and their funds are beyond reproach.

The fact that no other diamond banks have been targeted for examination - at least as far as I know; a bank not necessarily publicizes such info - may well mean that the investigators were not looking at the diamond business in particular. However, the fact that government is showing interest in diamond industry bank accounts should certainly not go unnoticed.