The charges allege that Omega traded diamonds out of Angola and Congo over a period of years, avoiding tax by moving the transactions through Dubai, Switzerland and Israel. The income from the sales was then moved into the legal economy. The charges affect the company’s CEO, a former shareholder, a number of executives and the company itself.

In 2008, investigators carried out several raids on Omega and confiscated diamonds worth €100 million as evidence. The whole diamond industry protested at the action, claiming that such a power of seizure could be used to put a company out of business on the basis of unproven allegations. A court partially agreed, and the prosecutor’s office was ordered to hand back €60 million of the diamonds.

The news of the giant fraud case comes as the rest of the Antwerp diamond industry is awaiting the outcome of an investigation into hundreds of dealers named on a list held by the Swiss subsidiary of the British bank HSBC. At the same time, 107 traders are facing charges in the case of Antwerp-based Monstrey Worldwide Services, a courier business alleged to have misused free-transit areas to smuggle gemstones.