Duel for AWDC Presidency

RAPAPORT… The fireworks appeared to be over once the final votes were tallied in the biennial election of 12 new board members for the Antwerp World Diamond Centre (AWDC) in mid-June. For the second consecutive time, all six of the trade group board positions — the positions that wield the most influence — were won by Indians.

But the fireworks were just beginning. A preliminary plan for the orderly designation of a new president appears to have been derailed, a prominent newly elected board member who had expected to get the president’s title quit the board in protest and it was rumored the top officer of the Indo-Belge Diamantaires Association (IDBA), caught in the middle of the dispute, resigned. The plan reportedly was to give the presidency to one of the two newly elected board members in category 1, representing the highest-trade-volume companies: Amit Bhansali of Rosy Blue and Nishit “Bali” Parikh of Diarough.

Ultimately, Parikh assumed the presidency; Bhansali, reportedly the top vote getter in category 1, resigned from the board entirely and Isi Morsel of Dali Diamond, who had received the third most votes in category 1 during the elections, immediately replaced Bhansali on the board.

In the weeks following its election, the new AWDC board reportedly reached an impasse in choosing between Bhansali and Parikh for the presidency. Dinners and other private meeting were held among the members of the Indian diamond community in order to break the deadlock and decide which man would be president.

Decision

Bhansali’s resignation from the board was considered a very unusual and unexpected move. “You must understand that the six Indian candidates’ names were submitted by the Indo-Belge Diamantaires Association, which supported the six candidates during the whole campaign, two in each of the three categories, in order to avoid splitting votes of the Indian community,” Bhansali explained. “From the beginning, as none of the four candidates in categories 2 and 3 were interested in the presidency, it was suggested by Kaushik Mehta, IBDA’s chief executive officer (CEO), that of the two candidates in category 1 — that is, Bali and me — the one who got the most votes would be president. That person would have to be accepted by the other board members, of course, but he would have the support of all six Indian board members in the trade group. This is the procedure that was decided upon even before the elections started — at least this is how I understood it.”

Top Vote-Getter Quits

Bhansali went on to explain that he had received 27 votes and Parikh 18 in the general election. “So, I felt I was overwhelmingly designated as president. However, I discovered too late, after the election was over, that the four board members designated in categories 2 and 3 didn’t intend to support my candidacy as AWDC president, no matter what the outcome,” said Bhansali. “I asked them why, insisting that should they have any sound reasons, I would gladly accept their decisions, in spite of what was decided at IBDA before the elections. I didn’t get any real answers from them, which led me to the conclusion that they had already made up their minds before the election even started, regardless of who had the most votes.

“In that situation, I understood immediately that my abilities to accomplish what I had set out to do would be completely limited,” continued Bhansali. “I had only one aim, which was to use our company’s network and make it work for the sake of Antwerp. My goal is to preserve this city’s vital role in our industry because, on both a business and a personal level, my life is based in Antwerp. I understood only in the last days leading up to the election and in the few days that followed that I will not have this opportunity. I don’t have time to waste, nor was I interested in facing my supporters two years later to explain that I could not achieve what I had set out to do. So, after careful consideration, I decided to resign.”

Responding to Bhansali’s comments, members of IBDA and the Antwerp Indian Association (AIA), a social organization, stressed that in their opinion, not everyone had agreed in advance that the category 1 member with the most votes would be president. It appears that there is a real discrepancy between the two versions and there were rumors that some of the newly elected board members were operating with hidden agendas.

Antwerp Pays the Price

The unfortunate thing for Antwerp is that, in its current efforts to regain a position of strength in the global diamond industry, the AWDC could have used both people of such stature as Bhansali and Parikh on its board. Both had been speaking of unity throughout the campaign but that unity didn’t extend to the days after the election.

For his part, despite his resignation, Bhansali stressed that he will continue to work for Antwerp in any capacity that he can and Parikh insisted on his willingness to welcome anyone who is ready to work for the interests of Antwerp.

The Marketplace

• Polished costs are high right now because of high rough prices from February through April.
• Customers find rough expensive and their offers are lower, which is stalling the market and slowing sales.
• People are scrambling to find rough below the cost of polished.
• Since polished prices are not expected to go up, rough will probably go down after the holiday season. BHP Billiton prices already have dropped by 5 percent and an additional decrease of about 10 percent is expected.