A Malaysian businessman caused confusion in the Namibian High Court this week when he claimed ownership of a diamond mine that was the focus of another wrangle.
Tuesday’s court case was supposed to settle a dispute between the Namibian government and Nambib Resources over a diamond claim on the Skeleton Coast estimated to hold 81-million carats of diamonds worth more than R80-billion. But proceedings took an unexpected turn when Ragubathi Subramian asked the court to dismiss the company’s application to have its exploration licence renewed.
Subramian’s counsel told the court that Arab-Asian Holdings, Nambib Resource’s holding company, had been stolen from his client or that his shares had been transferred without his consent or knowledge by Bruno de Vicentis, Nambib’s project manager.
The Malaysian businessman claimed that De Vicentis and Nambib Resources did not have his authorisation to launch the court application. He said he had already entered into discussions with Namibia’s Minister of Mines and Energy Nicky Iyambo to settle the matter amicably.
Nambib Resources said it could establish only that the businessman was a director of the holding company, but that he had not supplied proof of his ownership.
”All shares have been converted to bearer shares, none of which are being held by Ragubathi (Subramian),” Nambib director Nico Taylor said.
Judge Nic Hannah granted Subramian’s request for evidence to be led and denied a motion by Nambib’s legal counsel to have only legal authority heard in the matter.
The judge postponed the hearing until February 3 to allow all witnesses to be present for oral evidence, though the issue had come to court as an urgent matter. These witnesses will include the local managers of Nambib Resources as well as former minister of mines and energy Jesaya Nyamu, who is now Trade and Industry Minister, his diamond commissioner and the mining commissioner. Nyamu had made the original decision to cancel Nambib’s licences and award them to Time Line Namibia, a company formed by a group of Ugandan businessmen and ruling-party heavyweights.
Advocate Theo Frank, for the Ministry of Mines and Energy and Trade Line International of the United States, argued successfully that a previous court order had specified oral evidence had to be heard in the matter.
In August the Mail & Guardian reported that the Namibian Ministry of Mines and Energy unilaterally awarded Nambib’s confiscated concessions to Time Line Namibia. Among the shareholders of the company, which had previously traded meat products, were two prominent Swapo members and the governor of the Namibian Reserve Bank, Tom Alweendo. Alweendo said he had first learnt about his 10% share- holding in Time Line in the press.
Nambib threatened to sue the Ministry of Mines and Energy for R89-billion — nearly three times Namibia’s gross domestic product — after its licences were cancelled and awarded to Time Line.
This latest development has plunged the future of the Skeleton Coast diamond resources into uncertainty. With an estimated 81-million carats at stake, the lure of easy money has attracted a host of other would-be players who lined the benches of the court on Tuesday.
The rise of the so-called ”Indian Rough” trade, which cuts tiny diamonds that no one else will, has made the Skeleton Coast a valuable resource again.
De Beers once mined the area extensively, but the low price for small diamonds caused it to abandon the claims in the Sixties and concentrate on operations in Oranjemund.
To the outrage of the environ- mental lobby, the area was reopened under political pressure when the Cape Town geologist Baxter Brown convinced Namibian authorities that the Skeleton Coast could be another Oranjemund. But Brown lost control of most of the diamond claims to De Vicentis, who launched a large-scale exploration programme to prove the extent of the resource.
Encouraging results earned him the wrong kind of attention. In late February the diamond police raided Nambib’s exploration site.
They arrested De Vicentis and his operators on technical charges about irregular handling of diamonds.
The Ministry of Trade and Industry then unilaterally cancelled Nambib’s licence and awarded it to the Ugandan consortium. But matters got messy when the state failed to make criminal charges stick against Nambib and was forced into a settlement. Last month the state handed back three of Nambib’s four diamond claims that it had held since 1999.
The court hearing involved the fourth claim, which is believed to hold the most promise.
Subramian’s sudden visit to Namibia is believed to have been prompted by a report that Nambib Resources had been sold to an Antwerp diamond trading family for US$10-million. The Hupert brothers bought the company last month through an investment company, Specialty Investments. Specialty is controlled by the principals of S Langer Diamonds, which has substantial interests across Africa.
Meanwhile, rumours have started swirling around De Vicentis. Maryn de Klerk, Trade Line’s attorney, told reporters that warrants of arrest had been issued for De Vicentis in Australia, Hong Kong and the US.
De Vicentis denies the claim.