The De Beers diamond group of South Africa, the world’s largest supplier of rough diamonds, has agreed to plead guilty to price-fixing charges and is now set to return to the United States market after an absence of 60 years, the Financial Times reported on Monday.
The paper, citing sources familiar with the case, said that under terms of an accord reached with the US Justice Department, De Beers will pay a fine of $10-million to settle charges that it had conspired with the US industrial conglomerate General Electric to fix the price of industrial diamonds.
The case is to be heard on Tuesday in a federal district court in Columbus, Ohio.
The Financial Times said that if the settlement were accepted by the court, executives of the company’s London-based Diamond Trading Company will be able to have direct contact with US retailers and other commercial partners.
De Beers, which has mines in South Africa, Botswana, Namibia and Tanzania, at present operates in the US through intermediaries, according to the paper.
It added that while US authorities cleared General Electric of the price-fixing charges, a formal procedure was never launched against De Beers because it had no legal standing in the US.
De Beers, founded in 1888, is 45% controlled by a consortium led by the Oppenheimer family of South Africa, 45% by the Anglo American group and 10% by Botswana-controlled Debswana. — Sapa-AFP