Man charged over model's gift of 'blood diamonds'

The South African in the Naomi Campbell "blood diamond" case is to face criminal charges.

Supermodel Ms Campbell testified she gave diamonds to Jeremy Ratcliffe when she appeared at the war crimes trial of former Liberian President Charles Taylor.

National director of public prosecutions spokesman Mthunzi Mhaga confirmed yesterday Mr Ratcliffe appeared in a Johannesburg court this week charged with violating the Diamonds Act of 1956.

It makes it an offence to possess uncut diamonds.

The spokesman said a hearing postponement until later this month is meant to give Mr Ractliffe's attorneys time to make representation. "He is out on warning," the spokesman said.

Mr Ratcliffe was chief executive in 1997 of the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund when Ms Campbell said she received uncut diamonds after a charity fundraiser also attended by Mr Taylor. He is being tried in the Hague for trading in illegal diamonds, referred to during his trial as "blood diamonds," to arm rebels in Sierra Leone.

Ms Campbell, below, said she received the diamonds from three men who came to her hotel room. She claimed not to know the source of the diamonds, but other witnesses said she bragged about getting them from Mr Taylor.

She said she gave Mr Ratcliffe the diamonds the next morning, as a donation to Mandela's charity. He said he didn't tell the foundation about the diamonds for fear of damaging Mr Mandela's reputation, and kept them in a safe for 13 years until he handed them over to police after Ms Campbell's testimony in August.

Mr Ractliffe, then a trustee of the fund, announced in August he would leave after the scandal broke.