Nigger Rep. 'Cold Cash' Jefferson Linked to Africa Diamonds Case

http://www.newsmax.com/us/jefferson_botswana/2008/01/18/65684.html

Rep. Jefferson Linked to Africa Diamonds Case

Friday, January 18, 2008

NEW ORLEANS -- Rep. William Jefferson, facing a federal trial on corruption

charges, has been linked to the prosecution of a former diamond executive in

Botswana, opening a new window onto the congressman's dealings in Africa.

The New Orleans Democrat and his family allegedly were the recipients of

illegally funded trips to Botswana in 2001 and 2002, according to charges

Botswanan prosecutors have filed against the former director of the Debswana

Diamond Co. Ltd., a partnership between diamond giant De Beers SA and the

Botswana government.

Jefferson has not been accused of wrongdoing in connection with his

Debswana-linked trips to Botswana. But the trips shed more light on African

dealings that are at the heart of the federal corruption case against him.

Calls placed to Jefferson's office were referred to his lawyers, who did not

return a call seeking comment Friday. Federal prosecutors in Virginia who

are prosecuting him on bribery and other charges declined to comment.

At the time of the trips, Jefferson was fighting in Congress on behalf of

the Botswanan diamond industry to derail or alter pending legislation to

outlaw so-called "blood diamonds," gems collected and sold by African rebel

groups.

Jefferson's trips to Botswana surfaced in a high-profile case against Louis

Goodwill Nchindo, former managing director of Debswana, a powerhouse company

in the diamond-based economy of Botswana. The southern African nation is one

of the troubled continent's most stable countries.

The case has taken on political overtones because Nchindo, 67, was a

longtime friend of Botswanan President Festus Mogae. Also charged are

Nchindo's 37-year-old son, Louis Garvas Nchindo, the former Debswana

communications director and another associate, according to a 32-count

charge sheet filed in Botswana on Dec. 20 and obtained by The Associated

Press.

Prosecutors allege that the elder Nchindo illegally spent Debswana money to

host Jefferson and his family and that the former diamond executive

fraudulently sought to obtain public land in Botswana through his position

as the head of Debswana.

The charges allege that Nchindo spent about $102,000 in Debswana funds on

three Botswana trips made by Jefferson and his family in 2001 and 2002.

The Botswanan government alleges those funds were used illegally because

Nchindo falsely "pretend(ed) that the said costs were expenses on an

official Debswana visit by the said William Jefferson, when at all material

times the accused persons knew that the said visit was a private visit" to

meet with Nchindo, the charge sheet reads.

Prosecutors in Gaborone, the capital of Botswana, did not return telephone

calls seeking comment.

Jefferson did not report the trips to Congress, but a review of House ethics

rules shows he would not have been required to report them if they were

carried out for private purposes.

Jefferson has been a frequent visitor to Africa in the past decade and was

warmly received at the highest echelons of African politics. Federal

prosecutors in Virginia allege that he used his office to orchestrate

business deals for American companies seeking to do business in Africa in

exchange for bribes.

The nine-term congressman faces a Feb. 25 trial in Alexandria, Va., on 16

counts on charges of bribery, racketeering, money laundering and obstruction

of justice. He is accused of taking hundreds of thousands of dollars in

bribes, and hiding $90,000 in bribe money in the freezer of his Washington

home. Jefferson has denied the charges.

When the Jeffersons took the Debswana-funded trips, Congress was in the

middle of a debate over what restrictions the United States should impose to

weed out "blood diamonds" from entering the U.S. marketplace. During that

period, Jefferson argued that tough restrictions on diamonds would hurt

legitimate producers, such as those in Botswana.

More than 70 nations, including the U.S., now participate in a diamond

certification scheme known as the Kimberley Process that was developed with

the cooperation of industry officials and human-rights groups.