Friend gives up Naomi Campbell’s ‘blood diamonds’ day after she testifies

Posted by mija on Aug 7, 2010 in News | 0 comments

The bag of blood diamonds prosecutors say Naomi Campbell got from ousted Liberian president Charles Taylor have turned up – in the safe of her friend.
Jeremy Ractliffe, who used to run Nelson Mandela’s charity, turned over the hot rocks to cops Friday, a day after Campbell testified at Taylor’s war crimes trial.
Now Ractliffe is under investigation because possession of uncut diamonds is a crime in South Africa.
In a statement, Ractliffe told cops Mandela had no idea he was holding the stones.
Taylor is accused of supporting the rebels in neighboring Sierra Leone’s 11-year civil war – and instigating a wave of rapes and amputations – in exchange for diamonds and other natural resources.
He denies trading in the so-called “blood diamonds.”
The sulky supermodel has testified that she met Taylor at a 1997 reception in South Africa and was later given a bag of “dirty-looking pebbles.”
She said she turned them over to Ractliffe after he warned her that taking them out of the country was a crime.
Read more: nydailynews.com