Diamond contractor fired for inquiring about Guptas-linked company, Zondo said

JOHANNESBURG – A long-term alluvial diamond contractor for Alexkor mining company, Gavin Craythorne, said his contract was blocked and canceled for asking who was behind Scarlet Sky Investments, a company linked to the Guptas.

Craythorne testified at the state capture commission on Friday on allegations including that the state mining entity, which intended to extract diamonds from Alexander Bay, was kidnapped by the Guptas and used to mine coal in Mpumalanga.

Earlier, Albert Torres of Gobodo Forensic Investigations, which investigated the irregularities at Alexkor, said that most of the mine’s diamonds were sold to Scarlet Sky and that no auctions were held for sale.

Craythorne is the second witness to testify that Scarlet Sky did not have a diamond license, but was awarded a contract to sell diamonds for Alexkor and that instead of selling the diamonds, she bought them.

The first witness was Investigator Torres: “Through the state diamond dealer, they sold less than 60 million rand and they also sold less than 5% locally at 38 million rand.”

Craythorne said his company was responsible for moving diamond-laden soil from the seabed, but the prices they were paying him made no sense.

“I started asking more questions about who the people behind Scarlet Sky were because no one knew, and that information was denied. The situation escalated to a point where my access to the mine was canceled, shortly after the contract was canceled. “

He said that when he did some more research, he discovered that Gupta’s associate, Kuben Moodley, was one of Scarlet’s shareholders.

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