Namdia Sues G4S over $17m Diamond Heist

(IDEX Online) - Namib Desert Diamonds (Namdia) is suing security company G4S over the $17m heist at its HQ in January.

Namibia's state-run diamond marketing company claims G4S was negligent, and that one of its employees "was complicit in the heist", in which 446 parcels of diamonds were stolen.

G4S was contracted to provide 24-hour remote monitoring and armed-response services to Namdia's Windhoek premises.

Namdia filed its claim against G4S on 20 August, alleging that G4S breached the written agreement and was negligent in the performance of the security services it had been contracted to provide.

A security supervisor, Francis "Gosh" Eiseb, aged 57, died after he was shot in the head during the raid.

Namdia subsequently suspended its CEO, chief operations officer and security manager pending an internal investigation. It has faced sharp criticism over its security arrangement both before and since the raid.

Six suspects, three from the same family - George, Charmaine and Bino Cloete - have since been arrested in connection with the raid.

A relative of the Cloetes - a security guard believed to have taken the diamonds at the scene - remains at large. Police have recovered $2.3m worth of the stolen diamonds.

Pic shows Namdia HQ, in Windhoek.