Tuesday, February 26, 2013

China International Fund & Zimbabwe's Diamonds

South African journalist Khadija Sharife's article "Disappearing Diamonds" shines a spotlight on the links between the notorious Hong Kong company known as China International Fund (aka the 88 Queensway Group headed by Sam Pa) and the exploitative tragedy of the Marange diamond fields in Zimbabwe. Copiously documented and a fascinating, detailed read.

Khadija's focus on CIF should not obscure the fact that other foreign companies are actively exploiting the Marange diamond fields, including South Africa's New Reclamation Group. Apparently Diamond Mining Corporation and Mdaba Resources also have foreign investors as partners. Which countries do these firms call home? I tried to find out by using google but drew a blank. Does anyone else know?

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for sharing this Deborah - I have included it in IIED's new In Our World blog http://www.iied.org/our-world-1-march-2013-food-energy-urban-tales-more

Anonymous said...

Dear Ms. Deborah,

Passing on a second-hand information - I haven't have the chance to double-check for correctness

South Africa's New Reclamation Group is a struggling company, almost at the blink of collapse - as evidenced by the following link --- http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-01-25/reclam-imperils-market-as-debt-falling-due-south-africa-credit.html

Rumor has it that it has been abandoned by its major investors (rumored to have Netherlands-Indian subcontinental connection, do not publish this fact yet, Deborah, I need to check the source)

As for the other two companies I'll see what I can come up with

Anonymous said...

Global Witness reports cover Mbada (SA, Mauritius, Hong Kong, BVI), Anjin (Zim and China), Sino Zimbabwe (CIF) (Hong Kong, Singapore, Zimbabwe); while DMC represents Lebanese diaspora diamond miners operating through Dubai.

Apart from Anjin - a use of secretive tax havens is common.