Gem Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) and Bharat Diamond Bourse (BDB) have jointly constituted a standing committee to look into invalidated grading reports for 1,042 diamonds after it was found that colour and clarity of these stones were fraudulently altered.
Gemological Institute of America (GIA) recently invalidated grading reports for 1,042 diamonds when it found that quality parameters of the stones were fraudulently altered.
Subsequently, they published the list of clients who submitted these stones. Their accounts have also been suspended.
Last month, two employees of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), India's biggest software exporter, were taken into police custody for allegedly tampering with the database of the GIA and altering diamond grading reports.
TCS provides database services to the GIA.
The tampering came forth due to discrepancies in grading information identified by internal controls and the GIA initiated an investigation together with TCS.
"Based on the seriousness of the issue, GJEPC and Bharat Diamond Bourse have jointly constituted a standing committee to look into the matter.
In order to better understand the intricacies of the matter, the committee has individually met some of these parties over the past three weeks and also held extensive meeting with senior officials from GIA and TCS", GJEPC Chairman Praveenshankar Pandya said in a statement here.
In a revelation by GIA and TCS, it has emerged that
the fraud involved present and ex-employees of TCS and grades of 1,042 stones were altered at the behest of certain parties.
These employees altered the grades before reports were printed and sent to the clients. When quizzed on whether the fraud was limited to these 1,042 stones, GIA and TCS assured that their internal investigations have been completed and they are confident that this is the total extent of the fraud.
"The matter is now under police investigation and the results are awaited. Meanwhile, we assure the trade that we are viewing the issue very seriously. If any member of the industry is found guilty, appropriate and stern action will be taken by both the associations", BDB President Anoop Mehta said.
The list of these 1,042 stones is available on GIA's website, along with the number and issue dates of the invalidated reports, submitting client account name, and shape and weight of each diamond.
On request of GJEPC and BDB, GIA has also agreed to recheck any stone graded during the period of this fraud at no additional cost.
Anyone wishing to avail of this facility can resubmit the stones to any GIA office, and it will respond expeditiously, the release said.
