Was Canadian/Belgian citizen Dennis van Kerrebroeck illegally dumped in a SA prison for past 24 months as a ‘patsy’ of a Zuma-family-linked diamond-smuggling plot? 

On April 10 2013 in the Pretoria High Court, a young Belgian/Canadian businessman was again denied the right to be released in yet another desperate attempt to gain his freedom — after 24 months in a filthy overcrowded South African trial-awaiting prison on a ridiculous ‘theft’ claim which he has already proven in numerous documents (below) he had not committed. His ‘trial’ may - or may not - start in June. It appears that Van Kerrebroeck may have become the unwitting victim of a murky Zuma-family smuggling plot surrounding one of the most beautiful diamonds found in South Africa recently.

Please help free young  Canadian/Belgian businessman Dennis van Kerrebroeck out of this 2 year ordeal in a SA trial-awaiting prison hell!  All the indications are that  he is yet another victim of the fraudulent Zuma-regime — whose presidential advisor Zandila Zungu even publicly earmarked the young white businessman as ‘An Enemy of The State’. Van Kerrebroek’s family is increasingly worried about his safety as the trial date looms closer. …

“Dennis van Kerrebroeck is an Enemy of the State”: Zuma presidential advisor:

South African investigative journalist Jaques Pauw on 9 December 2012 quoted Zuma’s presidential advisor Zandile Zungu – who is a close personal friend to the Zuma family — as saying that  “Dennis Van Kerrebroek was an Enemy of the State” and that he would “be in jail for a long time.”  Zungu is a (now resigned) director of Jasper Mining and its largest shareholder. Jasper Mining is the diamond seller David Griffiths’ company. It was David Griffith who was responsible for the illegal export of the diamond in question and its fraudulent sale to Dennis. As will be seen in the documents below, Van Kerrebroek was not aware that the diamond had already been sold when he was offered it for sale: strangely initially Griffith’s co-partner, Minnaar Higgs of Higgs Diamonds (Pty) initially submitted to the police in his complaint that it was David Griffiths who had stolen the diamond…

• CAMPAIGN TO FREE DENNIS: http://www.facebook.com/FreeDennisNow?ref=ts&fref=ts -

• Jacques Paul article: http://www.beeld.com/Suid-Afrika/Nuus/Hy-is-slagoffer-van-komplot-se-diamantdief-20121209
   

The judge ruled on Van Kerrebroek’s application on April 10, that the SA government did have jurisdiction over the case, even though the alleged ‘theft’ had occurred outside the country. He ruled that Mr Van Kerrebroek had to remain in Diepsloot trial-awaiting prison for his trial in June. The law-courts in South Africa are very slow, and one trial can take as long as ten years in South Africa…  The young Belgian/Canadian businessman may indeed ‘be in jail for a long time…’

Van Kerrebroek has over the past 24 months submitted extensive documentation which proved that he had been the victim of an elaborate hoax by an international diamond-smuggling syndicate, even though he should not have to ‘prove his innocence’.

 Dennis van Kerrebroeck said that he has been unwittingly caught up in one of the most intriguing untold stories of 2013. It involves a stunning, unique 68-karat South African diamond, a gem so beautifully flawless that officials in South Africa were even willing to perjure themselves with false statements and trumped-up charges — just to cover up the rising suspicion internationally that South Africa may be involved in illegal export-practices of diamonds. 

The stakes are high:  there are calls that South Africa’s Kimberley-certificate export rights to be cancelled. With Zuma’s advisor’s words ringing in their ears that ‘Van Kerrebroek is an enemy of the State’, it’s clear that SA officials are working hard to keep the Belgian/Canadian businessman  imprisoned in a case over which they have no jurisdiction at all: the alleged offence did not occur inside South Africa.

Most bizarre lawsuit ever – against the diamond;

The diamond also is at the centre of the most bizarre lawsuit ever filed in the USA by the Federal Bureau of Investigation -  which has ‘arrested’ the diamond on March 6, 2010 after it was cut at Taly’s Diamonds on Fifth Avenue, New York. The FBI is actually ‘suing’ the beautiful gem itself. As was noted on the AllGov.com news site, ‘the bizarreness of this story is best captured in the official title of the American lawsuit: “United States versus One Polished Diamond Weighing approximately 68 carats’.

The original raw diamond was found in November 2008 in the diamond-rich North Cape province of South Africa. It caused a flurry of excitement on the international diamond markets and the secret bidding for the uncut gem was reportedly heavy. Uncut, this diamond was 143 carats: cut it now is 68 carats: the same size as the Krupp diamond given to the stunning US actress Elizabeth Taylor in 1969 by her  husband, actor Richard Burton.  An international row has erupted over who exactly owns it legally. Taly’s says it’s theirs and are still trying to get it back.  Van Kerrebroeck says he was defrauded – and a top international law expert agrees with him. Even the original owners back in South Africa now also admitted recently that the sale had been dodgy. But still, he languishes in Diepkloof prison. Why?

Whose diamond is it? International Legal Expert Opinion:

The raw diamond was legally exported  via the legal Kimberley Certificate ZA008750 to Mr Adrianus Vriend in Geneve, Switzerland by the owners  of Higgs Diamond Pty Ltd and sold to their own business-partner Mr  Adrianus Vriend there.  Brinks had therefore transported the  uncut diamond legally.  Documents below:

Then, mysteriously, Mr Minnaar Higgs and his partners in Higgs Diamond Pty Ltd had ‘sold’ the same raw diamond again — even though Higgs no longer  owned it — this time to Mr Dennis van Kerrebroeck.  It was apparently claimed by seller Higgs and his partners that ‘the bottom had dropped out of the  diamond market’  and Higgs and partners had offered Van Kerrebroeck the raw diamond,  now located in Geneva – at a much lower price.  Mr Van  Kerrebroeck ‘s company Belgo-Navada Ltd  then sold the gem to Fifth Avenue merchant Taly Diamonds in September 2009. It was at Taly’s that the diamond was cut and  polished. And it was from Taly Diamonds that the FBI seized it amidst a  flurry of publicity in which unnamed ‘sources’ claimed that Van Kerrebroeck was a ‘con artist’.  http://gothamist.com/2010/03/06/33_m_diamond_seized_on_fifth_avenue.php

Who is the legal owner of the 68karat diamond? “Van Kerrebroeck was the victim of a fraud writes top international legal expert: “

In documents before the SA court to secure Mr Van Kerrebroeck’s release, the top Belgian  international law advocate Karel Mul wrote that Mr Van Kerrebroeck and his company  clearly were the ‘victims of a fraud’. Mul wrote in his legal opinion lodged during Van Kerrebroeck’s bail application, that Mr Vriends is  still the legal owner of the diamond.

Van Kerrebroeck submitted overwhelming evidence of his innocence:

That’s why the precious and beautiful gem, which should be gracing the neck of a beautiful woman, still rests in the dark recesses of an FBI-safe. And  that’s why Dennis van Kerrebroeck, the Belgian/Canadian businessman who was illegally arrested in South Africa, has now also been  languishing in a filthy, dangerous South African trial-awaiting prison for 21 months.   He’s appeared numerous times in near-hopeless  attempts to get bail. His family has submitted countless appeals for his release. And –  even though under SA law he does not have to  prove his innocence – ( the State instead has to prove his guilt)  – he also has submitted numerous documents proving his innocence – and also that the SA courts have no jurisdiction in this case as the alleged ‘offence’ had occurred outside the country.

Van Kerrebroeck should never have been in jail for these non-violent charges he is accused of in the first place: he should have been granted bail.

The hellhole of Diepsloot trial-awaiting prison:

His next trial date is on April 5 in the Johannesburg High Court – when more documents will be submitted in increasingly desperate attempts to get him out of that filthy Diepsloot trial-awaiting prison. The Diepkloof trial-awaiting prison outside Randburg, cynically referred to as ‘Sun City’ by inmates, is described as a “a shit-hole with 250% over-capacity”.  This prison is no “five-star hotel.”  This prison, and most others like it in South Africa, is worse than a refugee camp.  They are absolute shit-holes.   Diepkloof operates at least 250% capacity. For instance, the cellblock where Dennis is being held, hasn’t been cleaned properly or professionally once in the many long months  he’s been there.  There is one toilet to service 70-90 people from the cellblock.  Prisoners have to manually fill a bucket of water and pour it into the toilet to flush it.  There is also only one shower and it is filthy with all sorts of bacteria and fungi spread all over it. This cellblock is for detainees awaiting trial.  They have not been convicted of any crime and are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law as it is stated in the South African Constitution.

This intrigue around this magnificent diamond also is increasingly puzzling: why is there such a massive reluctance in South Africa to release this businessman who clearly was the victim of a fraud by some  pretty dodgy South Africans? There have even been false information planted in foreign news media outlets describing him as a ‘con artist’. And Van Kerrebroeck was denied bail on May 26 2012 (case RC 128/11/CD2-YM-24/03/2011) for only reason: namely the false testimony by investigating officerColonel Luiz and the public  prosecutor of Kimberley, both alleging that Belgium ‘did not have an extradition treaty with South Africa’. Van Kerrebroeck has a clean  criminal record: there should have been no reason to deny him bail for such a minor, non-violent claim – and the two officials had lied: . SA and Belgium DO have such a  treaty.  Mr Van Kerrebroeck has also lodged counter-charges at the SAPS Johannesburg Central Office on August 31 2011 against the two men whose formal complaints caused his plight: the geologist David  Griffith of Easresrouces, and Griffiths’ former partner, the legal owner of the ‘stolen’ diamond, namely Minnaar Higgs. (CAS 570/09/11)

There also was a failed attempt to fabricate evidence against Mr Van Kerrebroeck by an investigating North Cape police officer, Captain AP van Rooyen: who coerced a trial-awaiting SA prisoner, Wouter Viljoen, into signing a false statement implicating Mr Van Kerrebroeck.  Viljoen later admitted that he had been “asked to sign a prepared document falsely accusing the Belgian businessman of  having Van Kerrebroeck’s police docket stolen for R20,000.”

This kind of fraud is widespread in the South African police forces:  As an illustration of the widespread, systemic fraud and corruption in the SA Police Service, one need only read articles such as in The Right Perspective, dd May 4 2010, noting that over 10,000 police officials were in prison in SA for often very serious offences ranging from blackmail, fraud to murder, attempted murder and rape. http://www.therightperspective.org/2010/05/04/10000-south-african-cops-in-jail/

What says the international law concerning the  legal export of unpolished diamonds with a Kimberley Certificate?

According to the dates of the South African Kimberley Certificate for this diamond, its date of issue was June 19, 2009; its expiry date was July 19, 2009.  If Adrianus Vriend, the importer in Antwerp, Belgium – failed to pay Minnaar Higgs, the owner and exporter, US $3.5-million for the diamond by the expiration date of the certificate of July 19, 2009, then by law that diamond had to be shipped back to Mr Minnaar Higgs in South Africa. This however did not happen and moreover, Mr Adrianus Vriend in Belgium never paid Higgs the US $3.5million invoiced for the diamond. 

• All unpolished diamonds intended for export purposes (from South Africa) must first in the prescribed manner be offered at a diamond exchange and export centre.”.No.28513  Government Gazette: 14 February 2006 Act No. 30,2005  Diamonds Second Amendment Act 2005 - http://www.info.gov.za/view/DownloadFileAction?id=67884 

Simply put, as required under the Diamonds Second Amendment Act 2005, all rough diamonds must first be offered for sale to a South African buyer before being considered for export.  This did not happen.  In Kimberley investigating SAPS officer’s Colonel Fernando Luis’ affidavit he stated that the diamond was ‘being exported to Geneva to be tendered”.  This is in fact illegal: Moreover, in the SA Mutual League Assistance request to the United States,  SA’s South-Gauteng province’s director of Public Prosecutions Andrew Chuke also committed perjury when he stated that ‘the diamond was legally exported from South Africa and was sent to Geneva to be put on tender”.  Lying to the United States Federal Government is a felony and also a violation of South Africa’s Mutual League Assistance Treaty with the United States. 

However, on Thursday February 21st, 2013, Magistrate Brian Nemavhidi, ruled that South Africa does have jurisdiction over the sale of this diamond. He said “Griffiths is from South Africa so South Africa has jurisdiction.”  This judgment is not based on law — either South African or international, as the trial-awaiting prisoner Dennis van Kerrebroeck’s attorney  Nardus Grove proved conclusively in his documentation.

Moreover, for some time now, Canadian and Belgian officals in South Africa and in their home countries have all these documents about this case in their possession which all completely exonerate Dennis van Kerrebroeck from any wrongdoing whatsoever in this matter.  Yet still, he sits and waits in Diepsloot prison…

LINKS: “Help Free the young Canadian/Belgian businessman Dennis van Kerrebroeck from his 2 years of SA trial-awaiting prison hell in South Africa: South African investigative journalist Jaques Pauw wrote on 9 December 2012 – when asked about his involvement in Dennis Van Kerrebroeck’s unlawful arrest, SA presidential advisor Zandile Zungu – who is a close personal friend to the Zuma family –  that Dennis Van Kerrebroek was an “Enemy of the State” and that he would “be in jail for a long time.” Zungu bankrolled Zuma’s presidential campaign. Zungu is a (now resigned) director of Jasper Mining and it’s largest shareholder. Jasper Mining is David Griffiths’ company. It was David Griffith who was responsible for the illegal export of the diamond in question and its fraudulent sale to Dennis. Van Kerrebroek was not aware that the diamond had already been sold when he was offered it for sale: strangely, Minnaar Higgs of Higgs Diamonds (Pty) initially submitted to the police in his complaint that it was David Griffiths who had stolen the diamond.”

http://www.facebook.com/FreeDennisNow?ref=ts&fref=ts -

http://www.beeld.com/Suid-Afrika/Nuus/Hy-is-slagoffer-van-komplot-se-diamantdief-20121209

/gold-and-precious-metals/2013/03/belgian-held-illegally-for-21-months-in-sa-over-68karat-diamond-deal-2485910.html

 MY ORIGINAL STORY IS LOCATED ON:

http://censorbugbear-reports.blogspot.nl/2013/03/sa-illegally-holds-belgian-man-over.html