Friday 6 August 2010

Naomi Campbell's friend says he's given diamonds to South African authorities


All this war crimes stuff is, like, ­seriously messing up Naomi Campbell's vacation.

At a trial to determine whether Liberian strongman Charles Taylor funded a civil war in Sierra Leone with "blood diamonds," the clueless catwalker told a war-crimes tribunal at The Hague in the Netherlands Thursday, "I just want to get this over with and get on with my life." In Campbell's case, insiders tell us that means resuming a luxurious yacht cruise with her married billionaire boyfriend, Vladimir Doronin.

When the model's testimony is complete, the source says, Campbell and her beau plan to resume their Mediterranean tour aboard Doronin's yacht.

We also hear that Doronin's 13-year-old daughter, Katia, will join the couple as they yacht-hop to Sardinia, Sicily, and that Spanish isle of iniquity, Ibiza. But though Campbell is known for partying hearty, our insider says the next leg of her and Doronin's trip is meant to be "family-oriented." Though there will be a few friends along for the ride, the source says the not-yet-divorced Vladimir and Naomi want to keep it more "low-key."

Prior to taking The Hague's hot seat, Campbell and beau chilled out in St. Tropez.

Perhaps that's why Campbell sounded as if she had a bad case of sunstroke after she arrived fashionably late to testify about diamonds she received after a 1997 dinner for Taylor at the home of then-South African President Nelson Mandela.

Campbell claimed she didn't know whether the "dirty-looking pebbles" given to her by two men, who didn't introduce themselves, were even diamonds - and claimed to not even know who Taylor was. "I don't know anything about Charles Taylor, never heard of him before, never heard of the country Liberia before," Campbell said of the Liberian president, who faces charges of murder, rape, recruiting child soldiers and sexual enslavement.

Campbell also claimed she'd "never heard of the term 'blood diamonds' before" and said she gave the stones to a friend, Jeremy Ratcliffe, who then was director of the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund.

But the charity has stated it never received the diamonds Campbell said she gave to its former head. And the prosecution did not seem to be buying what Campbell was selling - especially because it clashed with statements made by actress Mia Farrow, who also attended the dinner and figures in Campbell's testimony. (Farrow is slated to testify on Monday.)

Prosecutor Brenda Hollis asked the supermodel, "Isn't it correct that your account today isn't entirely truthful?"

But Campbell replied, "No, that's not correct."






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