Africa-Press – Liberia. The controversy over the ownership of a 53.3-carat diamond found by a fisherman in Gbarpolu County is deepening amid acrimonious claims and counter claims by people at the center of the saga – the Ministry of Mines and Energy and the two parties that are each claiming the precious stone.
One of the parties, led by the President of the Liberia Gold and Diamond Brokers Association, Fallah B. Kamara has accused the Ministry of Mines and Energy of deliberately giving the diamond to the wrongful owner to get kickback after a “kangaroo” investigation.
Mr. Kamara is also a member of the Board of Directors of Liberia Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (LEITI).
But the Ministry denied the allegation and said if the aggrieved party is not satisfied with its ruling, it can seek redress to the court.
What happened?
All of the parties agreed that the stone was found by Mohammed Kamara, a “Jack-with-all-trick man” that is popularly called “Junior” or “Iron Jacket” on Eid al-Fitr, the Muslim holidays that marks the end of the month-long dawn-to-sunset fasting of Ramadan near Henry Town.
However, they disagreed on where it was found.
The allegations
According to Fallah Kamara, Iron Jacket found the diamond at a diamond creek called Claim #9 which is owned by Fatu Nyumah, a veteran mineral dealer and mine owner believed to be in her mid-70s. She is widely known as Ma Fatu Borbor.
Kamara claimed that Iron Jacket usually works at the mine and it was on one of his regular routines that he found the precious stone. He later told the townspeople that he found the diamond at Ma Fatu’s Claim#9 and the news spread like wide fire. People from the town informed Ma Fatu who was in Monrovia at the time about the “good news.”
Kamara, said he was informed by group of people including Manju Kamara (no relationship to him), former president of the Brokers Association that Iron Jacket found the mineral at Claim #9.
Kamara said he instructed Manju and the team to report to the Ministry who has jurisdiction over mineral matters to ensure the right things are and for all parties to benefit.
But when Manju and his people brought Iron Jacket to Monrovia, they took him to an unknown place and kept him away from his family for days, he said. And when he demanded them to turn over Iron Jacket, Manju told them that Iron Jacket was an adult and there was no need to worry about him as he was in the company of one Ishaka Konneh, safe and sound with the mineral.
Kamara explained that it took the intervention of several people including Senator Saah Joseph before Manju and Konneh brought forth Iron Jacket. He said when Iron jacket appeared, he changed the entire story about the diamond, rolled back his previous statement, and said he found the diamond at Claim #12, and not Claim #9. He accused Manju and Konneh of brain washing Iron Jacket to lie that he found the diamond at another creek owned by them (Manjue and Konneh).
Manjue and Konneh did not respond to FrontPage Africa inquiries.
When disagreement ensued, Kamara said the Ministry intervened, but following a faulty investigation, it wrongfully awarded the diamond to Iron Jacket, who does not have a license to operate independently.
“The Minister instructed that police take seize of him until he can produce the diamond, but Assistant Minister Swen interrupted and said the suspect should go and come the next day with the diamond and the Minister agree. But I told the Minister that his action was wrong and against our Mineral Law.”
According to him, the Mineral Law states that anyone who is not a dealer and does not have a license cannot keep a diamond or gold. Giving the diamond to Iron Jacket, was unlawful because the diamond should have been in the possession of the Ministry of Land and Mines until the investigation is completed, he said.
Kamara then alleged that Asst. Minister Swen has been in some “clandestine mineral deals” by using his influence to illegally take dealers’ diamonds, noting that the current situation is an example.
“I lost confidence in Minister Swen because for him to have allowed Barku (Konneh) to keep the diamond was wrong. This action justifies that he has hidden his hands under this thing,” Mr. Kamara noted.
He also alleged that after the Minister gave the diamond to Iron Jacket, Ishaka Konneh and others called him to a meeting and requested to give him US$100,000 to forget about the matter, but he refused.
He called on President Weah to intervene and compel the Ministry to do the right things.
He said: “Assistant Minister Emmanuel T.T. Swen has released the diamond to the people that has no document. The poor woman and her husband will not get anything from it. I am appealing to President George Manneh Weah to Intervene. Our diamond is going illegally. It has been happening before. I tried to go see Fina Bono but no way to see her. She said I should not go on air until I see her but when I close my mouth, the diamond will go illegally.”
Assistant Minister Swen Denies
The Assistant Minister, speaking to FrontPage Africa, said Kamara’s allegations are entirely untrue. He said the diamond exists and is authentic, adding that he awarded the diamond to Iron Jacket because Kamara and his team could not establish that the diamond was found at Ma Fatu’s diamond creek- Claim#9.
He said the parties agreed that Iron Jacket found the mineral but since none of them was present, only Iron Jacket can state where he found his diamond.
“There was no question about who found the diamond. We only wanted to establish where the diamond was found. One group said the diamond came from Claim #9 and the man who found his diamond said the diamond came from Claim #12. That is what we wanted to establish. The people who said the diamond came from Claim #9 needed to prove beyond reasonable doubt… but I didn’t see it in their statements.”
According to him, during the investigation, Iron Jacket who discovered the diamond noted that he was being pressured by Kamara and others to state that the pressure stone was found at Claim-9.
This, Swen noted, was intended to enable the process of the mineral to remain within the family, since Ma Fatu, who is also claiming that it was found at her claim is Kamara’s mother-in-law, something the fellow refused.
He said currently, others who owned Claim-12 are arguing that they are owners of the diamond and are already awaiting their ownership proceed.
Minister Swen noted that during the investigation, there were contradictions in the testimony from six witnesses produced, to that of the testimony of Ma-Fatu, which left him with no further alternative, but to conclude that those who have Claim-12 and the fellow who found the diamond will own it.
According to him, the investigation is already concluded and the party who has ownership of the diamond can sell it to anyone they feel satisfied with, and the ministry cannot stop them.
FrontPage Africa has learned that the diamond is expected to be smuggled out of Liberia to Italy in the coming days, but Minister Swen noted that the diamond has not yet left the country and that government will benefit from its royalty or tax, following the transaction.
“I communicated with the Ministry and I was told the diamond has not been exported, hit if it is being purchased through the right procedure, the Ministry cannot atop it,” he averred.
Minister Swen had at the same time responded to information that he has connive with the fellow who found the diamond to sell it outside the rightful procedure.
According to him, some individuals are contacting officials in government to intimidate him to render decisions that would favor them.
“There is a Lebanese Party that believes that my ruling should favor them and that the part is in connection with Ma-Fatu,” he maintained.
Swen said despite this attempt to manipulate his decision by some men believed to be in the Lebanese circle, his decision will not consider controversial within the leadership of the Brokers Association of Liberia.
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