Rap Nyet
February 04, 10There is only one person in the world who can out-rap Rap – and that is Rap himself. Deluding himself of his own importance as just another member of the World Diamond Council (WDC), Martin Rapaport, through his media, first generated the “news” of his pending intention to resign from this body. No public plea was made by anyone for him not to do so. Thus, Rapaport resigned, issuing a press release for the whole world to know. It must be frustrating for Rap that nobody really seemed to care. It truly is a non-event.
So why am I wasting this column on Rap? Because of the infuriating attempt to belittle so many good and honest members of the WDC – an organization of which I am a proud member. I know the WDC isn’t perfect – but it represents the greatest effort ever made by the entire diamond business to come together to fight against conflict diamonds. It has rightfully earned respect worldwide – with clearly one exception.
Let’s first make one thing clear: Every decent person shares the disgust and the outrage over what is happening in the Marange diamond fields in Zimb
Rap l
Blasting the WDC as Rap did and diminish its warranties, is basically questioning the sincerity and the integrity of people in organizations such as Cartier, Tiffany & Co., CIBJO, JVC, Sterling Jewelers, IDMA, WFDB and all the bourses, De Beers, BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto, etc. All these prominent industry names are the WDC.
The World Diamond Council’s System of Warranties
So while fully condemning the atrocities of the Marange diamond fields, there is absolutely no logical reason or justification to raise doubts about the integrity of the warranties issued every day by tens of thousands of traders in the diamond value chain. In the warranties, the seller “guarantees that these diamonds are conflict free, based on personal knowledge and/or written guarantees provided by the supplier of these diamonds.”
Rapaport takes issue with the definition of “conflict diamonds.” It is like arguing
It may well be that the definition needs to be reviewed periodically, but that is no reason to provoke distrust in the relations between diamond suppliers and retailers, or to inflame the trust between retailers and consumers. Clearly, Rapaport doesn’t hold the members of the industry in too high of a regard if it requires warnings to retailers - even though he makes a good living out of the trading platform he provides to these very same members of the trade.
Operators of online diamond-trading networks require all kinds of warranties from their clients. If the integrity of personal warranties is in doubt, surely the ethical thing for Rap to do would be to close his online trading platform immediately. If the seller’s warranties aren’t any good, why would they be better online?
Rapping in Tradition
Somehow, rapping hasn’t changed much in thirty years. In a legal textbook, Rapaport appears in a footnote as follows: “in the early 1980s the Diamond Dealers Club (DDC) Board of Directors exercised their authority to expel a member from the club for making public statements that tended to cast the industry in a negative light. They expelled Martin Rapaport for saying to the press, ‘diamonds, ethics, Feh! If the devil himself showed up they would sell to him.’”
Rapaport went to court. He filed suit against DDC and each of the twenty members of the board of directors, demanding $5 million in compensation from every director. He did more. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) got involved setting off an antitrust investigation. By the way, the secretary of the DDC at that time was Eli Izhakoff. Yes, the same Izhakoff who now chairs the WDC. In the end, Rap settled the case.
His fondness of legal action has never disappeared. For disclosure’s sake, I should add that he has been in court against IDEX Online for many years for all kinds of odd reasons.
Rap’s Angels
I have always been amazed how in the rapping practices commercial expediency wins so easily over ethical principles. Some four years ago, when writing on the GIA Certifigate scandal - prob
Wow - “If you are a grader and not accepting a bribe then you are an angel?” I wondered. “And, conversely, if a grader is not angel then he must be a briber because it is too hard to resist the bribes? I don’t b
“I don’t think that all diamantaires are crooks or potential bribers. Rap seems to think differently. He says: ‘Fortunately, there is a natural way to stop the bribing — deterrence through disclosure.’ He calls that the ‘natural’ way. I tend to differ: I think the natural way for a businessman to conduct diamond business is by being honest, by being ethical and by being decent. The ‘natural’ way is not to bribe. Period. To say that the ‘natural’ way to stop bribing is a function of the penalty, the loss of reputation or the loss of good name, is perverse. I tend to believe that we don’t do crimes because we believe that they are wrong – and that’s why we don’t do it.”
The point I want to make in the present context is that rapes and killings are atrocities that are undoubtedly far more serious than economic fraud. Nevertheless, one should be ethical and consistent. Rap might be forgiven for having taken the side of the “angels” in the Certifigate scandal by continuing his business with the GIA as usual. It never occurred to him to ask for warranties from his clients that certificates on his website were not fraudulently upgraded. Nor did he deny trading privileges to those suspected of having bribed.
The Zimb
As far as the WDC is concerned, even while writing these words its leaders are participating in an international telephone conference deciding on the appointment of a monitor to oversee the Marange operations and sign each parcel that leaves the mining area to guarantee that no human rights
As far as the Rapaport resignation is concerned, they will remove the name from the WDC website - when they find the time. Not doing so may risk accusation that the ‘trade is being lied to by having non-members on the member roll’ and the Rap name is being
Have a nice weekend.