Antwerp Diamond Dealer Death during raid. Search of premises not stopped.
by Danny Diamonds.
Diamond business closed down till Tuesday in solidarity.
Antwerp
thursday 7 december 2006 morning at 7:32 the
Belgian Justice came into the
locals of a 46 years old dealer Miki M. from the diamond company Beltaj,
two minutes later Miki M. died from a heart attack.
The researcher didn't stop
to work, but continued to work after the body of the death diamond dealer was
taken away... The dying man was denied a phone call to his wife.
Miki M. was a known man in Antwerp's Indian community and
represented http://www.manilals.com
in Antwerp ..
It was one of the big players in the Antwerp diamond business,
number 65 on the diamonds Trends Top 500 ranking. Belgian justice thought the
man was linked to old stories linked to blood
diamonds.
The diamond dealers are not working today to show they find inadmissible the way justice is getting harder everyday after the diamond business.
The HRD and Indian community is deeply sad about how this could happen and this is clearly one step beyond normal justice.
On Friday there will was no diamond business, and no import or export of diamonds made possible.
60-70 % of the diamond % is in hands of the Indian community, the HRD was recently better represented in he HRD.
The Belgian authorities wanted to make the business more legal. What is getting up are older stocks old "blood diamond stories" and justice is seeking what is know as the "black market diamond stocks".
There is a reorganization those days and companies are working more in a legal way these days since the reorganization of the HRD.
Danny Diamonds
Diamond firm MD dies during raid
PTI Friday, December 08, 2006 00:31 IST found at dnaindia.com
LONDON: Nikhil Manilal, 45 year old managing director of the diamond company Beltaj NV, died when his house was raided by police in
Antwerp.
Describing it as very unfortunate, Amar Sinha, a spokesman of the Indian Embassy in Brussels
said, "We are ascertaining the circumstances and will take up the matter with the local government if there was any
neglect."
Sunil Prasad, secretary general of the Brussels-based Europe India Chamber of Commerce and President of Global Organisation of People of Indian Origin in Belgium said despite demands by the family for urgent medical
assistance, the police denied it to the deceased.
"This is not acceptable and we demand full investigation of the case and those found guilty must be
punished," he told the India News in Europe Programme.
He said, "This is the saddest day in the history of Indian community's relations with the
Belgium. Indians are peace loving community and this incident has unsettled the Indian
community."
DIAMANTAIRE DIED OF HEART ATTACK DURING POLICE RAID IN HIS HOME; SEARCH OF PREMISES PROCEEDED AS IF NOTHING HAPPENED.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
8 December 2006 by CHAIM EVEN-ZOHAR found at diamondintelligence.com
At a dawn raid at 7:30 AM, on Thursday, December 7, the Antwerp police raided the house of Indian diamantaire Nikhil Manilal, who at the time was at home. When confronted with the police detectives he was struck by a heart attack and collapsed. The servants at the house wished to call Mr. Manilal’s wife, who was not at home, but they were not allowed by the police to make such phone call. Only when it was apparent that the 46-year old diamantaire had passed away, some five to ten minutes later, an ambulance was called. Dominique Reyniers of the justice department in Antwerp denies the charges and claims that an ambulance was called within a minute or so after the diamantaire’s collapse.
Around the same time, the police officers called the investigating magistrate (judge) in charge for instructions. The judge ordered the continuation of the search of the premises of the deceased as if nothing happened, apparently even when the deceased body was still on the premises. The clearly angry managing director of the Diamond High Council (HRD) noted that he doesn’t know what exactly happened, something that needs to be investigated, but “to continue an house search when someone is lying dead on the floor is clearly problematic. Even justice has some boundaries. That is humanity.” It is not known what triggered the investigation.
Today, the Antwerp diamond industry closed down to show its solidarity towards the community and the family of the bereaved. The Boards of Directors of the Antwerp Indian Association and the Indo-Belge Diamantaires Association have asked their members to close their offices for one day and, as it turned out, the entire diamond sector will support the closure, not just to show respect for the Nikhil Manilal’s family, but also to express its outrage for the conduct of the Antwerp police.
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