Kimberley – Shocking evidence, suggesting that diamond mining giant De Beers, as well as current Kimberley Ekapa Mining JV (KEM-JV) CEO, Jahn Hohne, initiated and funded Project Darling, a covert police operation which resulted in one of the biggest illicit diamond dealing busts in the history of South Africa and the arrest of several high-profile names in the local diamond industry, was revealed in the Northern Cape High Court yesterday.
Thirteen accused – Ashley Brooks, Patrick Mason, Manojkumar Detroya, Komilan Packirisamy, Ahmed Khorani, Antonella Florio-Poone, McDonald Visser, Willem Weenink, Sarel van Graaf, Carl van Graaf, Kevin Urry, Trevor Pikwane and Frank Perridge – currently face numerous charges related to the contravention of the Diamond Act and Prevention of Organised Crime Act, following their arrests in August 2014.
During Project Darling an undercover police agent, Linton Jephta, was assigned to infiltrate the operations of identified individuals in the diamond industry.
Defence Advocate Terry Price on Wednesday called Marius Korff, a former SAPS employee who went into the “private investigation sector” during a trial-within-a-trial, to give evidence relating to the entrapment process.
Korff dropped a bombshell when he explained how he first became involved with De Beers and Africa Ulwazi Management (AUM).
“It all started when Mike Brown, the then Chief Operations Officer of De Beers, contacted me. I was informed that De Beers was having ‘huge problems’ with internal theft and the unlawful buying and selling of diamonds, especially in the Kimberley area, and they needed help as nothing was being done about it. A meeting, to determine if we could set up an investigation and a team to try put a stop to these illegal diamond transactions, was held with Deon du Toit, Head of Interventions at De Beers, and Frans Volschenk, the Chief Security Advisor Global of De Beers and owner of AUM, and me,” Korff testified.
He added that Volschenk asked him for a proposal, following an illegal diamond dealing “success” after the meeting.
A copy of the proposal was handed in to the court.
Korff said that Volschenk then told him to “carry on” on a retainer basis and added that De Beers had paid for several expenses, including travel, accommodation and technical recording and surveillance equipment during certain entrapments and arrests.
“I was involved in several big arrests, most done illegally, without any Section 205 warrants, but Volschenk told me to just ‘go ahead’."
These successes impressed Volschenk and De Beers to such an extent that they approached me for a permanent position and to work more closely with them in entrapping and putting a stop to illegal diamond buying and selling,” Korff said, referring to the initiation of Project Darling.
Korff went on to tell the court that he and Volschenk had met with Hohne in Bloemfontein, “as he was too scared to be seen funding undercover operations”.
At the meeting it transpired, according to Korff, that Hohne had a “serious grudge” against one of the accused, Patrick Mason, as well as Derick Corns.
“Hohne also instructed me to start an undercover operation at his mining company, Superstone Mining, to see who was stealing diamonds and what was happening. At the time, Hohne was involved in a court case against his cousin, Dale Hohne, who was, according to him, giving diamonds stolen from him to Mason and Corns. I was instructed to make arrests ‘at all costs’ and to just ‘get it done legally or illegally’,” Korff testified.
Korff added that a former accused, Brent Lunt, was paid R50 000 by Hohne to try and get the diamonds from Dale Hohne.
“However, the plan was still to arrest Dale – there was nothing legal about this situation and there was no police involvement,” Korff said.
He then went on to describe how De Beers in the United Kingdom (UK), through AUM, agreed to fund Project Darling.
“All funds were channelled through the UK as they did not want the structures in South Africa to know what was happening.”
Korff also referred to a meeting with himself, Project Darling’s intelligence officer, Detective Warrant Officer Potgieter, Colonel Botha, Volschenk and then Head of De Beers Security, Dave Haycock, where it was noted that cellphones (of suspects) were to be infiltrated (illegally) without Section 205 warrants, in an attempt to add and identify suspects.
“It was clear that De Beers would supply the money and diamonds needed to set up the entire entrapment process,” Korff said.
He added that a list of “suspects” (targets), believed to be involved in the illegal operations, was obtained directly from Hohne, from infiltrated cellphone records and other sources.
Korff went on to say that the undercover police agent, Jephta, was paid a monthly retainer and a “success bonus” by De Beers and that Detective Warrant Officer Potgieter also received several payments from De Beers, through AUM.
Copies of the registration of Jephta as an informer for De Beers, as well as several invoices confirming payment from AUM, were also handed in as annexures.
Amounts included a R20 000 per month retainer fee, as well as an average of R10 000 per successful operation.
The trial is expected to continue on Thursday.