NAOMI CAMPBELL’S testimony to the war crimes trial of Charles Taylor, the former Liberian warlord, is expected to be contradicted today by evidence given to the court by her former agent, Carole White.
The supermodel’s claims that she did not know who had sent her a pouch of uncut diamonds 13 years ago are likely to be challenged by White, who accompanied Campbell to the dinner hosted by Nelson Mandela.
In 90 minutes of testimony given to the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) last Thursday, the supermodel said that while she accepted the “dirty looking stones” when they were presented to her in the middle of the night in September 1997, she had no idea who had sent them.
At a charity dinner held earlier that night at Mandela’s residence in Pretoria, she said she had engaged in no conversation specifically with Taylor, then newly elected to the Liberian presidency.
In evidence already given to the prosecution, however, White claims Campbell and Taylor were sitting next to each other at the dinner and were “mildly flirtatious” with each other. She said she heard him tell Campbell he would send her some diamonds.
The founder of the leading London agency Premier Model Management told the prosecutors her former protege “seemed excited about the diamonds and she kept talking about them”.
Her testimony today is due to be followed by that of Mia Farrow, who was at the event too and has also said that Campbell knew Taylor had given the gift. “She told us that she had been awakened in the night by knocking at her door, she opened the door to find two or three men . . . who presented her with a large diamond which they said was from Charles Taylor,” read a statement from Farrow.
For the prosecution, the possibility that Taylor sent Campbell uncut diamonds is evidence that he was linked to a trade in which he has denied all involvement.
At the time of the dinner, prosecutors allege, the warlord had received a delivery of blood diamonds from Sierra Leone.
They say he then used the profits from their sale, and his trip to South Africa, to buy arms for rebels committing atrocities in the country’s civil war.
Taylor, now 62, denies this, as he denies all 11 counts against him at the SCSL.
During her cross-examination, Campbell (40) said she had sat between Mandela and Quincy Jones; had not spoken of diamonds to anyone; and had given the stones away because she felt it would be inappropriate to accept gifts while in South Africa because of her work with underprivileged children. – Guardian Service