Lerala boss faces 20 years for �deceiving investors�

Government and Lerala Mine’s owner, Kimberley Diamonds are presently tussling in a Belgian court over a parcel of 53,000 carats authorities here believe was spirited out of the country just before Lerala’s closure last year. Creditors, who are demanding the stones’ return, say they have evidence the parcel was sold grossly below value in order to hurry them out of the country, to sidestep creditor obligations.

Lerala Mine closed on May 29 last year, citing weak sales and rendering at least 130 workers unemployed. Liquidators working to recover creditors’ dues found that the parcel of diamonds had been sold at the last minute for US$22 per carat, when a previous sale fetched US$45 per carat.