Gupta-linked diamond seller raided in Joburg, SIU seizes hard drives and documents | Fin24

Photo: Special Investigating Unit/Twitter

• The Special Investigating Unit has raided the the offices of Alexander Bay Diamond Company, a service provider to SA’s troubled state-owned diamond company.
• The State Capture Commission found that Scarlet Sky Investments, now known as the Alexander Bay, didn’t have a licence to sell diamonds.
• The SIU has accused Alexander Bay of refusing to disclose the details of the diamond sales.
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The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) has seized hard drives and documents from the offices of the Alexander Bay Diamond Company as part of its probe into corruption at state-owned diamond firm Alexkor.

“The raid of Alexander Bay offices is crucial for the SIU to complete its investigation in the affairs of Alexkor,” said the unit.

Alexander Bay was previously known as Scarlet Sky Investments, which was majority owned by Gupta “fixer” Kuben Moodley. In 2015 it was appointed to undertake the sale and valuation of diamonds for Alexkor.

SIU spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago said the unit raided Alexander Bay’s Johannesburg offices to gather information.

“We have found a lot of documents and some hard drives that we are taking with us so that we can evaluate them and finish our investigation,” said Kganyago. 

“This we will do do in a very short space of time now that we have got the documents that we wanted.”

The report of the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into State Capture found Alexander Bay was appointed as a service provider for Alexkor without a licence to sell diamonds or any track record in the diamond industry.

As Fin24 previously reported, it procured roughly R2 billion in diamonds from the joint venture with Alexkor and the Richtersveld community, which may have constituted a criminal offence due to its lack of a licence.

READ | Gupta ghosts still haunt ‘destroyed’ Alexkor mine

The SIU was tasked by President Cyril Ramaphosa in 2021 to investigate allegations of corruption and maladministration related to the marketing, valuation and sale of diamonds by Alexkor and its service providers.

On Thursday, the SIU said Alexander Bay had “refused” to disclose details around the sale of diamonds to Alexkor and its chief executive officer, citing alleged non-disclosure agreements signed with buyers of state diamonds.

“The company also failed to disclose the details around the sale of diamonds to the State Capture Commission,” it said.

“The SIU deemed it necessary to approach the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court for a search warrant to seize documents and computers in order to assist with an ongoing investigation, as normal processes to request information was likely to be met with the same attitude.”