Leviev Fires Namibian Workforce After Losing Local Sight

(IDEX Online News) – It has been an eventful week for Lev Leviev. After winning his case again Arcady Gaydamak in the High Court in London over profits from Angolan diamond exports, Leviev’s polishing plant in Namibia laid off its entire workforce on Monday after losing its Sight in March.

De Beers' Namibian Diamond Trading Company (NDTC) decided not to offer Lev Leviev Diamonds’ (LLD) a Sight for the 2012-2015 contract period.

The 150 workers who lost their jobs had been sent on unpaid leave on June 10.

The factory’s managing director, Kombadayedu Kapwanga, told AFP that there were no immediate plans to shut down the factory as negotiations with De Beers and the NDTC were ongoing. "Nobody in his right mind will want to see 150 employees sit in the street," he said.

LLD was the only one of 14 companies who applied to the NDTC to have their Sight renewed to be rejected, according to AFP.