Guy Philippe’s nephew buys Sierra Leone’s auctioned diamond for $10.2 million

Haitian businessman Steven Scott has on Thursday purchased the auctioned Diamond in Sierra Leone for $10.2 Million, Sierra Leonean local media reports.

The world’s largest diamonds nearly fizzled on Thursday when the government of Sierra Leone rejected a $7.8 million bid for the rough, egg-sized stone, saying it failed to meet its own valuation.

Steven Scott, who is the nephew of embattled Haitian Senator Guy Philippe, won the bid after a Belgian dealer bid $7.8 million.

The 709-carat gem is the second largest ever discovered in the West African country and was unearthed in March in the eastern Kono region by a Christian pastor who gave it to the government to handle the sale.

Five bids were handed to auctioneers in a sealed brown envelope, ranging from $2 million to $7.8 million. The top bid was made by a man in a white shirt and light trousers on behalf of Belgium diamond dealer Ray Diam BVBA before Steven Scott came into the picture.

Diamonds fueled a decade-long civil war in Sierra Leone that ended in 2002 and killed 50,000 people. Rebels forced civilians in the east to mine the stones and bought weapons with the proceeds, leading to the term “blood diamonds”.

The United Nations lifted a ban on diamond exports from Sierra Leone in 2003, though the $113 million sector is plagued by smuggling.

The auctioned diamond is the second largest ever found in Sierra Leone after the 968.9-carat Star of Sierra Leone which was found by miners in 1972.