Israeli fined N$50 000 over rough diamonds

A BUSINESS trip to Namibia went badly wrong for an Israeli woman involved in the diamond industry last week, when she found herself being arrested, charged and finally fined N$50 000 for having brought diamonds into Namibia without a licence.

Appearing in the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court on Thursday, Avital Ben Bikovsky (43) pleaded guilty to charges of importing rough diamonds into Namibia without a permit and unlawfully possessing uncut diamonds in Namibia.Both offences were committed on Tuesday last week, and involve 272 rough diamonds, weighing 348,75 carats and valued at N$15 613,03, which Bikovsky brought with her when she travelled to Namibia.She was arrested on Wednesday.With her appearance before Magistrate Jermaine Muchali on Thursday, Bikovsky’s defence lawyer, Profysen Muluti, told the court that Bikovsky had been working in the diamond industry for ten years and had travelled to Namibia on business last week. It was her first visit to Namibia, Muluti said.Bikovsky admitted that she did not have the necessary import permit and licence to bring the rough diamonds she was carrying with her into Namibia and to have the stones in her possession inside the country.A source has indicated that Bikovsky visited diamond-cutting plants in Namibia to introduce the products of her company, which is a supplier of material used in the diamond cutting process. A parcel of industrial-grade rough diamonds, which she had with her as a sample of material her company could supply to cutting plants, was what led to her arrest and the charges she pleaded guilty to.Muluti told the court that Bikovsky is a mother of three children and had made a mistake that she was regretting. He suggested that she be sentenced to pay a combined fine of N$10 000 on the two charges.Public Prosecutor Phineas Nsundano, emphasising the diamond industry’s importance for Namibia’s economy, suggested that she be sentenced to a fine of N$100 000 or an eight-year prison term on each of the two charges.The maximum sentence provided for in the Diamond Act is a fine of N$1 million or 20 years’ imprisonment.Magistrate Muchali sentenced Bikovsky to pay a fine of N$25 000 or serve a three-year prison sentence on each of the two counts.The fines, totalling N$50 000, were paid on Thursday.