AWDC Questions Antwerp Police Report

(IDEX Online News) – The Antwerp World Diamond Centre (AWDC) has released a statement challenging the completeness of the annual report of the Antwerp Police.

The AWDC explained that the annual report mentions that Antwerp plays a crucial role as a distributing center for cash stemming from criminal activities and that, according to the police, the strict anti-money legislation is not applied, especially in the diamond and gold trade.

“The authorities refer to the raids in and around the railway station and diamond square mile on September 30 and October 1,” said AWDC spokesperson Margaux Donckier, “at that time, the media wrongly assumed those raids involved diamond traders.”

The AWDC explained in its statement that “following the AWDC’s reaction, the Antwerp judicial authorities issued a press release clarifying that this was not the case. Therefore, the AWDC strongly regrets this clarification was not incorporated in the Antwerp Police annual report.”

In addition, the AWDC said it felt it was necessary to provide clarification regarding the issue of conflict diamonds originating from the Central African Republic. “In March 2014, the experts of the FPS Economy discovered a suspicious shipment of rough diamonds in the Diamond Office. Consequently, the FPS Economy, the Belgian Kimberley Process (KP) authority, immediately notified the judicial authorities and requested advice from the KP Working Group of Diamond Experts.

“It is clear that this shipment of potential conflict diamonds was actually discovered thanks to the strict controls that are applied by the Diamond Office. At the time, the Antwerp World Diamond Centre communicated extensively on the issue, underpinning Antwerp’s strong commitment to stop the trade in conflict diamonds in the city,” concluded the organization.