(Rapaport…March 27, 2006) Guyana’s mines minister Robeson Benn refused to renew a diamond dealer’s license after the government found the dealer smuggling diamonds in order to avoid paying taxes in Venezuela. Benn told Stabroek News that Guyana is constantly looking for suspicious activity in accordance with the Kimberley Process, and the nation has greatly improved its record keeping.
Benn concluded the number of carats actually mined from Guyana in 2005 would increase slightly, far less than the growth during 2004. The government fears smugglers had been passing-off diamonds from other areas in previous years, which didn’t originate in Guyana, and the nation has since been enforcing measures to end the practice.
Diamonds mined in Guyana (on paper) doubled from years 2002 to 2004, but Benn predicts 434,000 carats were actually mined in the country during 2005, representing an increase of about 2 percent.