RAPAPORT… A former senior manager at Lev Leviev’s Namibia diamond polishing facility has filed a complaint with Israeli police alleging irregularities in the company’s operations, Israel’s Globes newspaper reported.
The complaint follows a probe into Leviev’s operation in the southern African country during which approximately 2,000 polished diamonds weighing around 1,000 carats were confiscated after Namibian police found that a large proportion of Leviev’s stock lacked the required documentation.
The former employee claimed that the undocumented diamonds were intended to cover a shortfall in Leviev’s stock after documented rough was sent to Israel without the requisite permits from the Namibian authorities, according to Globes.
An attorney for Lev Leviev Diamonds denied that any diamonds were sent to Israel without permission, adding that the confiscated diamonds were the company’s property that the former employee tried to steal. The former employee refuted the claim as an attempt by the company to cover the affair, Globes reported.