AWDC Board Director Steps Down After Banking Havens Report

Antwerp World Diamond Centre’s (AWDC) board of directors member Santosh Kedia has temporarily stepped down from the board awaiting the outcome of a possible investigation into the so-called Offshore Leaks tax-free banking havens reported in Belgium's Le Soir newspaper.

“Today, we have taken note of the press, communicating that a member of our Board of Directors, Mr. Santosh Kedia, allegedly would be involved in the 'Offshore Leaks' dossier," the AWDC said in a statement.

"In the interest of the integrity of the Antwerp World Diamond Centre as [an] organisation and the industry as a whole, Mr Kedia has taken the initiative to withdraw from the AWDC's board of directors, awaiting the outcome of a potential investigation."

In the past few weeks, IDEX Online has reported a number of times about the recent reports detailing money laundering and tax havens, which has been exposed by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ).

The statement added that the AWDC, as the representative organization of the Antwerp diamond sector, would target its efforts at striving for a transparent and clean diamond trade as it had been doing for many years together with the international Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the European Commission, and the Belgian tax authorities, Flemish and local bodies.