Naomi has ‘nothing to gain’
From providing false testimony at the war crimes trial of Liberian ex-president about suspected blood diamonds.
LONDON:
Supermodel Naomi Campbell insisted she had “nothing to gain” from providing false testimony at the war crimes trial of Liberian ex-president Charles Taylor about suspected blood diamonds.
“I’ve no motive here. Nothing to gain,” she said in a statement.
Her comments came after her former agent, Carole White, and US actor Mia Farrow both told judges this week that the model had accepted a gift of diamonds from Taylor and boasted about it the next day. Farrow said Campbell had named Taylor as the man who sent her a “huge diamond”.
This contradicted Campbell’s testimony Thursday, at the Special Court for Sierra Leone in The Hague, in which she said she did not know who had sent her the gems.
According to White, Campbell and Taylor had flirted throughout a charity dinner hosted by South Africa’s then president Nelson Mandela in Pretoria in September 1997. At one point, “she told me: ‘he is going to give me some diamonds’,” White said in her testimony on Monday. “She was very excited.”
Courtenay Griffiths, a lawyer defending Taylor, on Tuesday branded White’s account a “complete pack of lies”.
The model came under criticism when told the judges that she coming to court was a “big inconvenience”. But she gave a statement on Tuesday saying that this was a “poor choice” of words and that her initial reserve over the appearance was because she feared for her family’s safety.
Campbell conceded during last week’s appearance that two men brought a pouch containing two or three “dirty-looking stones” to her bedroom at the presidential guesthouse in Pretoria.
She said she did not know who the gift came from, but “assumed” it was from Taylor. The model said she donated the diamonds to the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund the following day. “I am a black woman who has and will always support good causes especially relating to Africa,” Campbell said.
Prosecutors are trying to link the gift to Taylor, whom they accuse of having taken a consignment of uncut diamonds to South Africa “to sell ... or exchange them for weapons” for Sierra Leone rebels.
Taylor, 62, is on trial for his alleged role in the 1991-2001 Sierra Leone civil war that claimed some 120,000 lives. He is accused of receiving illegally mined “blood diamonds” for arming rebels who murdered, raped and maimed Sierra Leone civilians, amputating their limbs and carving initials on their bodies.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 12th, 2010.
Supermodel Naomi Campbell insisted she had “nothing to gain” from providing false testimony at the war crimes trial of Liberian ex-president Charles Taylor about suspected blood diamonds.
“I’ve no motive here. Nothing to gain,” she said in a statement.
Her comments came after her former agent, Carole White, and US actor Mia Farrow both told judges this week that the model had accepted a gift of diamonds from Taylor and boasted about it the next day. Farrow said Campbell had named Taylor as the man who sent her a “huge diamond”.
This contradicted Campbell’s testimony Thursday, at the Special Court for Sierra Leone in The Hague, in which she said she did not know who had sent her the gems.
According to White, Campbell and Taylor had flirted throughout a charity dinner hosted by South Africa’s then president Nelson Mandela in Pretoria in September 1997. At one point, “she told me: ‘he is going to give me some diamonds’,” White said in her testimony on Monday. “She was very excited.”
Courtenay Griffiths, a lawyer defending Taylor, on Tuesday branded White’s account a “complete pack of lies”.
The model came under criticism when told the judges that she coming to court was a “big inconvenience”. But she gave a statement on Tuesday saying that this was a “poor choice” of words and that her initial reserve over the appearance was because she feared for her family’s safety.
Campbell conceded during last week’s appearance that two men brought a pouch containing two or three “dirty-looking stones” to her bedroom at the presidential guesthouse in Pretoria.
She said she did not know who the gift came from, but “assumed” it was from Taylor. The model said she donated the diamonds to the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund the following day. “I am a black woman who has and will always support good causes especially relating to Africa,” Campbell said.
Prosecutors are trying to link the gift to Taylor, whom they accuse of having taken a consignment of uncut diamonds to South Africa “to sell ... or exchange them for weapons” for Sierra Leone rebels.
Taylor, 62, is on trial for his alleged role in the 1991-2001 Sierra Leone civil war that claimed some 120,000 lives. He is accused of receiving illegally mined “blood diamonds” for arming rebels who murdered, raped and maimed Sierra Leone civilians, amputating their limbs and carving initials on their bodies.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 12th, 2010.