Black Diamond

2014-07-01

Smuggling, fraud and tax evasion have been the order of the day in the diamond business in Antwerp for decades. The diamond merchants in the 'Square Mile' are living in a vacuum, in a social and judicial bubble that is sustained in part because of the cooperation of politicians and magistrates.

The most recent series of scandals concerning diamond giant Omega Diamonds, valuables transport company Monstrey Worldwide Services and the Swiss HSBC bank accounts prove that the end is still a long way off. Time and time again diamond merchants try to stay a step ahead of justice and taxation with new constructions of fraud and alternative smuggling routes. And if they can't beat the law, they bend it by having politicians write it to match their needs.

In Black Diamond, 50 years of fraud, deception and tax evasion in the Belgian diamond sector Raf Sauviller and Salvatore Di Rosa shed a light on these and other nasty affairs that branch out from the Antwerp diamond centre to Dubai's secretive diamond tower.

Team members

Raf Sauviller

Raf Sauviller (1955-2018) was an investigative journalists writing for the Belgian magazines HUMO, EOS and P-Magazine.

Salvatore Di Rosa

Salvatore Di Rosa (1972) is a freelance journalist, researcher and Russia expert. He writes for HUMO, Apache.be and EOS among others.

Supported

A working grant of € 5,100, allocated on 13/09/2012.

FPD/2012/980

Grant

Pascal Decroos Fund

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