Def: When were diamonds discovered in Liberia?

IS: Shortly after they were discovered in Sierra Leone.  Exploitation began in 1950s.

Def: Mining was going on in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea, South Africa, Angola?

IS: Yes.

Def: How would a country like The Gambia become a diamond exporter if they have no diamonds on their territory?

IS: If legally, they’d be imported then re-exported.  If illegally, they’d be smuggled in and smuggled out.

Def: Why would a country sell diamonds if it doesn’t produce them?

IS: To obscure origin for various reasons.

Defense is asking about exports from Russians and Mauritius.  Export can be legal or it can be illegal?

IS: Yes.

Def: Is it accurate that 20% of world’s exports are illicit?

IS: We estimated that before Kimberley Process, 20-25% of all exports were illicit.  No longer the case.

Def: There’s long been diamond smuggling between SL and Liberia, pre-dating Charles Taylor?

IS: Yes.

Def: In Angola, UNITA was exporting vast amounts of diamonds during Angola’s civil war?

IS: Yes.

Def: These massive exports of diamonds are surely insured.  I’m suggesting that Lloyd’s of London insured exports.

IS: I don’t know about that. 

Def: The diamond trade in Europe was centered to a large extent on Antwerp, Belgium?

IS: Yes.

Def: Did Belgian law in the 1990s require certificates of origin?

IS: Yes.