Fraud in sight, De Beers cuts India's rough diamond allocation

(www.rediff.com) - The world’s leading diamond mining group, De Beers, has reduced its India “sight” or allocation for rough diamonds for February by around 10 per cent. The involvement of big names, including Mehul Choksi of Gitanjali Gems and Nirav Modi, has made this company cautious, industry sources said. The industry is also cutting down on business ahead of the closing of the financial year, they added. De Beers Group press office declined to give details of specific sights but responding to an email query regarding recent cases of frauds in the diamond industry, the spokesperson said, “We do not comment on individual businesses, but we require compliance with strict criteria at Global Sightholder Sales relating to financial propriety and industry reputation issues -- we don’t trade with any business where we have specific concerns.”