Not really related to Pakistan Affairs and the photo of Imran must be old, as he was married to Jemima. He must have tremendous cultural pride wearing his native attire in front of such “well known” and influential people. He has never been one of those who shys away from his own dress and dresses to impress Gora Saabs!
He’s going to give me some diamonds: Naomi Campbell ‘flirted with African dictator before he gave her lavish gift’
By Rhianna King
Last updated at 7:13 PM on 9th August 2010
Comments (120) Add to My Stories Campbell was ‘excited’ after being promised diamonds by Charles Taylor
Supermodel arranged to receive unpolished gems from two men late at night
Former agent contradicts Campbell’s claim she didn’t know origin of gems
Facebook photos of agent attending ‘Blood Diamond party’ shown to court
Business as usual for Campbell as she parties at lavish Billionaires club
Naomi Campbell flirted with an African dictator and boasted that he was going to give her diamonds, her former agent told a war crimes tribunal today.
Contradicting the supermodel’s claims that she did not know the origin of unpolished ‘blood diamonds’ she received after a charity dinner in 1997, Carole White said Campbell was ‘excited’ to receive the gems.
Ms White’s testimony at the Hague - coupled with Mia Farrow’s evidence earlier today that Campbell boasted about the gift - appears to completely discredit the model’s evidence at the trial of former African leader Charles Taylor last week.
Former agent: Carole White told the Hague Naomi Campbell was excited to receive diamonds from former African leader Charles Taylor, who is standing trial accused of war crimes
Contradicting claims: Mia Farrow today insisted Campbell told her she received diamonds from Mr Taylor, days after the model told the Hague she did not know who the gift came from
The supermodel spent the weekend with her Russian billionaire boyfriend Vladimir Doronin and was seen at a party at the Billionaires club in Sardinia last night.
Among the guests was actor Leonardo DiCaprio, who starred in the film Blood Diamond - an expose of the illegal African trade in conflict gems.
Back at the Hague, her former agent’s testimony came under intense scrutiny from the defence who claimed she was lying in order to benefit a breach of contract lawsuit she is currently pursuing against the supermodel.
Ms White also accused her of attending a ‘Blood Diamond Party’ after Campbell gave evidence at the Hague.
In an extraordinary day of evidence, Ms White recalled attending a charity dinner in South Africa with Nelson Mandela and his wife, Graca Michel, Mia Farrow, an African minister and Charles Taylor - who was seated next to Naomi Campbell.
NAOMI CAMPBELL: AUGUST 5
‘At breakfast, I told Miss Farrow and Miss White what had happened and they said, “It must have been from Charles Taylor”, and I said, “Yeah, I guess it was”.’
MIA FARROW: AUGUST 9
‘(Campbell) was quite excited and said in effect, “Oh my God, in the middle of the night I was awoken by knocking at the door and it was men sent by Charles Taylor and he sent me a huge diamond.”’
CAROLE WHITE: AUGUST 9
'Naomi was very excited and telling me: ‘Oh, he’s going to give me some diamonds.’
'Whilst we were eating Naomi leaned back and Charles Taylor leaned forward and Naomi was very excited and telling me ‘oh, he’s going to give me some diamonds,’ she told the Hague today.
When asked by the prosecution who the ‘he’ was that Campbell was referring to, Ms White said: ‘Charles Taylor.’
Arrangements were made during the meal by a minister and the diamonds were delivered by two men to Ms White and Campbell’s guesthouse later, the court heard.
Ms White recalled how the model was receiving text messages before taking delivery of the gems, and was ‘very excited.’
Ms White was woken by a tapping on her window, and noticed two men down on the ground.
‘We have something for Miss Campbell, can you let us in?’ they said.
‘I told them to wait and went to knock on Naomi Campbell’s door.’
Ms White answered the door to the men, before Campbell appeared in a nightgown and cashmere shawl. The men were offered soft drink before handing over the gems in a ‘scruffy’ piece of paper.
Ms White said: 'They took out a quite scruffy paper and they handed it to Miss Campbell and said ‘here are the diamonds’.
‘She opened them and showed them to me. They were quite disappointing because they weren’t shiny.’
Ms White said there were five or six stones in the paper.
She said she held the paper herself before handing it back to Campbell, who thanked the men before they were let out.
Back to business: Campbell (third from right) with (left to right) Elisabetta Gregoraci, Leonardo DiCaprio, Philip Green, her boyfriend Vladimir Doronin and an unidentified female guest at the Billionaires club in Sardinia on Sunday night
She said: 'I was quite worried about the gift because if she took them with her and took them out of South Africa I believed it would be me that would have to carry them and I knew that it was illegal to take diamonds from South Africa out of the country.
'I recall telling Naomi the next morning that we shouldn’t take these diamonds and we should actually do something good with them and give them to the children’s charity.
‘She eventually agreed that would be a good idea, that maybe they could benefit from the value of the diamonds.’
Under cross-examination, Ms White shown photos on Facebook posted by one of her booking agents, Annie Wilshire, including a photo in which she herself appeared.
The caption for the photographs at the party, held last Thursday on the day of Campbell’s testimony, read: ‘Blood Diamond night’.
Ms White said the party was for the opening of a new modelling house.
She said: ‘I never styled anything as a blood diamond party.’
Ms White told the Hague that Campbell ‘flirted’ with Taylor before being promised diamonds
This Facebook image, featuring Carole White, rear, and members of her staff was posted under the caption ‘Blood Diamond night.’ Charles Taylor’s defence used it to suggest Ms White made up her testimony in a bid to help her lawsuit against Campbell
Annie Wilshaw, a member of Ms White’s staff, also posted a message on Facebook, above, saying: ‘Can’t wait for Carole to bring her down on Monday at the Hague’
HOW NAOMI AND HER ‘SURROGATE MUM’ BECAME ENEMIES Naomi Campbell once referred to former agent Carole White as her ‘surrogate mum’, but after working together for nearly two decades the pair are now embroiled in a bitter legal battle that spilled out into the Hague today.
Both women accuse one another of lying under oath, and behind their evidence lies an ongoing battle over royalties.
Ms White, who set up agency Premier Model Management with her brother Chris Owen in 1981, is suing Campbell for breach of contract, claiming the model owes her about $600,000 (£375,935) in lost earnings over the past two years.
She claims she would also have made hundreds of thousands of dollars more in the future if the contract had not been terminated in 2008.
The pair fell out over the development Campbell’s perfume and cosmetics range.
Campbell is said to have reneged on a deal to pay Premier a percentage of the profits from her fragrances, which include ‘Cat Deluxe’ and ‘Cat Deluxe with Kisses’.
The supermodel is alleged to have made millions and millions on the scents and between 2001 and 2008 made quarterly payments of the profits to Premier.
But the money has allegedly stopped and Ms White and Mr Owen decided to sue.
Today Ms White was accused of having a ‘very powerful motive for lying’ about Campbell, who also accused Ms White of lying during her evidence last week.
But she denies lying to the court.
White once described Campbell as: 'A Gemini, and she has two sides. One side is this generous, intelligent, witty, funny and vulnerable individual, but the bad side negates a lot of those things.
‘The bad side is very self-destructive, with no self-control. She doesn’t care about the consequences when she’s like that, for herself or other people.’
She also claimed working with the model was 'a bloody nightmare… She was very hard work, unpredictable and you never quite knew if she was going to turn up.
‘I just took care of her, almost as a mother would. I also worked out that you should never get close to her.’
‘It does surprise me because I’m not cross enough to arrange a party like that, that would be absurd.’
Defence lawyer Courtenay Griffiths then read out a Facebook post from Miss Wilshaw, who said: ‘Can’t wait for Carole to bring (Naomi Campbell) down on Monday at the Hague.’
Mr Griffiths then mentioned the lawsuit Ms White has brought against her former employer over breach of contract and suggested that ‘she had a very powerful motive for lying’ to the court.
Ms White admitted said she was owed about £600,000 by Ms Campbell and was suing her for lost royalties from the past two years.
Mr Griffiths then told her: ‘I suggest that you don’t come to this court with clean hands, you come with an agenda.’ ‘I suggest your motive in lying about Naomi Campbell is to provide you with ammunition for use against her in the lawsuit.’
Ms White replied: ‘That’s not true.’
Earlier today, Mia Farrow told the court Campbell was ‘quite excited’ at breakfast the next morning when she recalled receiving the gem.
‘Before she even sat down she recounted an event of that evening and she said that in the night she had been awakened by some men who were knocking at the door and they had been sent by Charles Taylor and they had given her a huge diamond, and she said that she intended to give the diamond to Nelson Mandela’s children charities,’ Farrow said.
Campbell told the court one of the other guests at breakfast made the suggestion the gift must have been from Taylor and the ‘dirty looking pebbles’ must have been diamonds.
But asked about where the suggestion came from that the stones were in fact diamonds, Farrow said: ‘Miss Campbell. Miss Campbell entered the room. She was quite excited and said in effect, “Oh my God, in the middle of the night I was awoken by knocking at the door and it was men sent by Charles Taylor and he sent me a huge diamond.”’
Asked who said the gift came from Taylor, Farrow said: ‘Naomi Campbell.’
Linking Taylor to illegal blood diamonds is key to the prosecution’s case at the Hague.
Prosecutors allege he used illegal blood diamonds to fund Sierra Leone rebels who murdered and mutilated thousands in the 1992-2002 civil war.
The former African leader, 62, denies all 11 charges he faces at the Special Tribunal for Sierra Leone, including murder, rape, sexual enslavement and recruiting child soldiers.
He also rejects allegations that he possessed or carried rough diamonds.
Evidence given today contradicts Ms Campbell’s testimony last week that she was given ‘three dirty looking pebbles’ by three men but didn’t know who the gift was from.
Ms White also said Campbell and Mr Taylor were being ‘charming’ to one another, and ‘mildly flirting.’
Campbell admitted receiving the pouch from two men in the middle of the night after the party in South Africa hosted by Nelson Mandela.
Campbell said she was never told who the gift was from.
Cross-examining Farrow, 65, Mr Taylor’s lawyers questioned her recollection but she insisted she remembered the morning well as it was ‘sort of an unforgettable moment.’
Dinner: A photograph taken on the night shows (left to right) Jemima Khan, Imran Khan, Campbell, Charles Taylor, Nelson Mandela, Gracha Machel, Quincy Jones, Mia Farrow and Tony Leung
Accused: Former Liberian President Charles Taylor is accused of using blood diamonds to fund rebels during Sierra Leone’s civil war
Nelson Mandela charity trustee Jeremy Ractliffe admitted receiving the unpolished diamonds from Campbell
‘I remember when she came in on the breakfast and said she received a diamond from Charles Taylor.’
She also said her three children, who were also at the breakfast table, remembered Campbell’s comments.
She recalled seeing Mr Taylor at the charity dinner, and was told by Nelson Mandela’s wife, Graca Machel, "‘No, no, you don’t want to be photographed with this man. This is the president of Liberia. He’s not supposed to be here’ or ‘he should have left by now.’
‘She moved the children and me to another area.’ Asked about what she knew at that time of Taylor, she said: ‘I didn’t know anything other than Graca Machel’s reaction.’
Last week Campbell said she told her former agent Carole White and Farrow about the incident at breakfast.
She said: ‘One of the two said “Well, that’s obviously Charles Taylor” and I said, “Yeah, I guess it was”.’
She also said one of the women also suggested the stones were ‘obviously diamonds’.
Farrow had been due to testify after Carole White on Thursday, but she was called out of order, enraging Taylor defense lawyer Courtenay Griffiths.
‘I am seriously angry about this,’ the usually reserved Griffiths said, his voice raised.
‘We have prepared and planned our strategy based on their notification that their first witness would be Carole White.’
He accused prosecutors of ‘playing fast and loose.’
In a compromise, Judge Julia Sebutinde decided prosecutors could call Farrow and White first, and that the defense could cross examine both after.
In the wake of Campbell’s testimony detectives in South Africa seized the stones from the home of Nelson Mandela charity trustee Jeremy Ractliffe and have opened a criminal case against him.
Campbell told the tribunal she gave the uncut diamonds to Mr Ractliffe, then a director of Mandela’s children’s foundation, with instructions to use them to help impoverished children.
But it was disclosed last week that police had seized them from a safe at Mr Ractliffe’s home in Johannesburg.
It came as the South African businessman admitted he had
TRAITOR!!!