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Learning the lessons from the Lesedi la Rona sabotage

New pathways: Lahri says the experience of the Lesedi la Rona auction impressed upon Lucara the need to engage partners such as HB Antwerp
New pathways: Lahri says the experience of the Lesedi la Rona auction impressed upon Lucara the need to engage partners such as HB Antwerp

Government’s desire for greater participation in the diamond industry’s downstream, traces its origins, in part, to the little known sabotage of the Lesedi la Rona auction in 2016, where the iconic stone fetched far below its potential. A silent vow of “never again,” was made, reports Staff Writer, MBONGENI MGUNI

In June 2016, Lucara Diamond Corp’s 1,109-carat Lesedi la Rona, the largest diamond recovered in a century and the pride of the country, failed to sell at widely livestreamed auction.

The story around the stone began when the giant stone was pulled out of the sands of the Boteti sub-district In November 2015. Approximately the size of a tennis ball, the 1,109-carat stone triggered global astonishment and awe for its sheer mass, clarity and rarity, being the largest since the 3,106-carat Cullinan Diamond discovered near Pretoria in 1905.

Editor's Comment
The State apparatus must be sanitised

When the State cannot rely on its own machinery to pursue suspected wrongdoing, repairing that machinery must become a national priority.The establishment of a Special Investigations and Asset Recovery Task Force may help government respond to the immediate challenge. However, Botswana cannot afford to leave the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime (DCEC) and the Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP) struggling whilst building...

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