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A huge scandal is growing in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. A unique rough diamond weighing 140 carats was sold for a several million dollars cheaper than its real cost. A local miner sold the rough stone without the required examination, resulting in almost 8 million dollars in savings for the buyer.
The manager of the country's diamond-mining industry stated that the real cost of the stone, which sold for $1.4 million, was closer to $10 million dollars. The miner sold the stone to a diamond and jewelry dealer from Lebanon, and the transaction itself occurred at night.
The miner and the entire Democratic Republic of the Congo will take a huge loss, because two percent of any transaction involving precious stones found on it's territory goes into the Republic's budget.
In the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2006 alone, 26 million carats of rough diamonds were mined, with sales estimated at $624.7 million dollars. The main buyers of diamonds are from Israel and Belgium.
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