QR Bunker #234 >>80923

“Dangerous Diamonds” – Ernst Oppenheimer, Anglo American, De Beers

https://projects.exeter.ac.uk/RDavies/arian/scandals/diamonds.html

However, South African forces occupied the colony in the First World War, cutting off Germany's main supply of industrial diamonds, and it remained under South African administration until Namibia became independent in 1990 [Remember Bernt Carlsson who died in the Lockerbie bombing]. Ernest Oppenheimer, a German Jew with British citizenship resident in South Africa, acquired the German diamond interests which he formed into the Consolidated Diamond Mines which he then offered to De Beers in exchange for that company's stock.

Diamonds can add glamour to the most beautiful woman; they also finance the cruellest of civil wars. Ever since Cecil Rhodes imperial adventures in the late 19th century, a single company has stealthily extended its influence on the global market for diamonds until it achieved almost total control.

After World War II that company even set up its own intelligence service. It also controlled the supply of diamonds from most of the other major producers through its Central Selling Organisation (CSO). The firm is De Beers. It was supported both by the White government of South Africa and the Soviet Union, yet it survived the ending of Apartheid and the collapse of Communism. At the start of the new millennium it faces its gravest challenges yet and has radically changed tactics to ensure its continued success

The Million Carat Network, the name given to the illegal trade, is another indication of its size of the traffic and as national police services seemed incapable of ending it, in November 1953 Ernest Oppenheimer turned to Sir Percy Sillitoe, the former head of MI5. During the war MI5's record in capturing and turning German spies had been outstanding. In effect, through its double-agent system it actively ran and controlled the German espionage system in Britain (Masterman, p. xii).

Sir Percy agreed and in March 1954 undertook a 6-week tour of diamond mines all over Africa at the end of which he set up the International Diamond Security Organization which had the twin aims of increasing security at the mines and discovering the major channels of smuggling to Europe, the Middle East, and the Iron Curtain. Because London was the main international centre for diamond sales the trade was a huge dollar earner for Britain and hence IDSO had no difficulty in getting support from the highest in the land.

By the spring of 1957 these attempts to encourage sales through official channels and the efforts of Sillitoe's agents in targetting some of the brains behind the smuggling rings had proved so successful that the IDSO was disbanded, its mission having been accomplished. Some of its men went back to intelligence or security work and others took jobs with De Beers and the Anglo-American Corporation. (Smillie, Gberie & Hazleton, 2000)