Fund didn't receive Naomi diamonds

2010-08-13 22:30

Johannesburg - The Nelson Mandela Children's Fund has not received a donation of diamonds from British supermodel Naomi Campbell or anyone else, its board of trustees reiterated on Friday.

"It would have been improper and illegal to have done so," the board said in a statement.

Testified a week ago in the warcrimes trial of former Liberian president Charles Taylor, Campbell said she had given the diamonds to the fund's director Jeremy Ractliffe.

She said this after she had received a late-night gift of dirty-looking stones following a dinner in South Africa in 1997 and assumed it
was from Taylor.

Ractliffe has kept the diamonds until he was prompted by the ongoing trial to hand them over to the police on Friday.

The board said it had entered into discussion with Ractliffe regarding his involvement in the matter.

"The Nelson Mandela Children's Fund confirms that its financial and accounting systems are working effectively and efficiently, as attested by the fact that it has regularly received clean audits since inception, the latest being for the financial year ended 31 March 2010," the board said.

- SAPA