-->Diamond bigwig arrested on gem smuggling charges

By Ora Coren



The vice president of Israel's diamond exchange,
Avraham Traub, has been arrested in Hungary.
According to unofficial reports passed to the
exchange, the arrest last Thursday was requested
by Moscow authorities, who suspect Traub of
illegally removing uncut diamonds from Russia.




The diamond exchange in Tel Aviv
has been unable to confirm the
reports.

Russian law forbids the removal
of uncut diamonds from the
country, unless through an
agreement between the Russian
government and diamond
syndicate De Beers, the leading

gloal player in production and export of
diamonds.

Despite the ban, many diamond merchants have
been active in Russia in recent years, and have
taken uncut stones out of the country through
agreements with local dealers. The diamond
industry in Israel indicated Sunday that Russia
has apparently arrested three other merchants -
two Israelis and a Belgian - on similar
charges.

The president of the diamond exchange, Shmuel
Shnitzer, confirmed that the exchange had
received information on Traub's arrest, but
said that there had not been any details of the
charges against him.

Shnitzer said that the senior officials in the
exchange had been in contact with the
Traub's

family, which was dispatching a lawyer to
Hungary to deal with the affair.

He expressed the hope that Traub's innocence
would quickly be proven and that the incident
brought to an end.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/349127.html