Madinat al-Muslimeen Islamic Message Board
| Innuendo + NO evidence = Economic Sanction |
|---|
| Rehana |
| 01/14/02 at 09:49:27 |
| bsm [slm] [url=http://www.bday.co.za/bday/content/direct/1,3523,999325-6078-0,00.html]Business Day[/url] [center][quote]Tiffany's ban troubles Afgem[/quote][/center] [sub]Resources Correspondent [/sub] AFRICAN Gem Resources, a Johannesburg-based tanzanite mining company, is considering commissioning an independent inquiry into allegations that the illegal sale of tanzanite has been helping to support international terrorist groups, including Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda. The company, which is developing tanzanite mines in Tanzania, is mulling over the move after [u]New York department store Tiffany & Co suspended sales of the violet blue gem because of fears of terrorist links.[/u] Afgem said it was considering a number of options in light of Tiffany's decision and perceptions that money from illegal gem sales was a source of terrorist funding. "We have a number of possibilities including asking a third party to carry out an investigation." The third party may be a research organisation. Afgem chief operating officer Ian Harebottle said the company wanted to co-operate with the Tanzanian government in introducing an internationally recognised standard for the production and sale of tanzanite. The US is the world's biggest retail market for the sale of precious and semiprecious gems and Afgem believes it is [u]unfair that Tiffany's, which gave the gem the name tanzanite in 1968, has singled out tanzanite for suspension.[/u] [color=red]Tiffany's has said it had no hard evidence that sales of tanzanite were being used to fund international terrorism, but the store was "troubled" by the allegations.[/color] Afgem's exports were not significant at the moment and Harebottle said the company had not been hit too hard by the speculation. Development at its Merelani tanzanite mine in Tanzania was continuing and exports would grow this year, he said. |
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