Kinshasa - An Indian businessman was jailed for six months and fined $100 000 (about R767 559,28) by a Kinshasa tribunal for concealing at least eight kilos of rough diamonds in his luggage, a judicial source said on Monday.
Ajudiya Pravin Kumar, a diamond dealer for six years in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), had been wanted by the high court in Gombe, a prosperous community in Kinshasa, for smuggling and illegal possession of diamonds, attempted corruption and fraud.
As well as the prison sentence, "he will also have to pay a fine of $90 000 and $10 000 in damages and interest to the DRC", said the DR Congo's lawyer in the trial, Me Ruffin Lukoo.
The tribunal also ordered the confiscation of the package by the Congolese state.
The state prosecutor had requested that Pravin Kumar be sentenced to 17 years in prison and fined $500-million.
The diamonds, analysed by the DR Congo's Centre for Evaluation, Expert Analysis and Certification of Precious Minerals, weighed 42 000 carats and have a market value of $500 000.
The lawyer described Pravin Kumar's sentence as "derisory" and said it "does not give a strong message to discourage other fraudsters. We wait for the power of the justice minister (Emmanuel-janvier Luzolo) to lodge a complaint".
Pravin Kumar was arrested on December 10 at Kinshasa airport en route to India.
During a security check, a policewoman found the diamonds in a plastic bag at the bottom of Pravin Kumar's luggage, with no authorisation to export the minerals from the diamond-rich DR Congo.
During the five-day trial, Pravin Kumar denied he intended to export the diamonds and claimed he had "bought stones that are used in the making of women's necklaces and not diamonds". - AFP
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