Diamond giant Rosy Blue expressed outrage at erroneous local newspaper stories that said CEO Dilip Mehta was arrested in Dubai, after officials confirmed it was a case of mistaken identity involving a different person with a similar name.
While the stories sent shock waves through the diamond business, local law enforcement now says they are not true. The Antwerp prosecutor’s office said in a statement that while an individual named Dilip M. was arrested in Dubai June 18 on diamond fraud charges emanating from Antwerp, that person is not Dilip Mehta, CEO of the Rosy Blue Group.
“The Antwerp prosecutor’s office has never confirmed nor posited that Dilip Mehta of Rosy Blue Group is involved in the ongoing diamond fraud case for which a suspect is now in custody,” explained spokeswoman Stéphanie Chomé. “The present case of mistaken identity is very regrettable.”
In a statement, Rosy Blue said that “neither the Rosy Blue Business Alliance, its management, nor Dilip Mehta is involved in the case.…The Rosy Blue Business Alliance regrets the appalling carelessness exhibited in the reports and requests the media remove the false online coverage, not further circulate these false reports, and to publish a retraction in the print media involved.”
Some of the newspaper articles have already been removed or corrected at press time.
Follow JCK on Instagram: @jckmagazine
Follow JCK on Twitter: @jckmagazine
Follow JCK on Facebook: @jckmagazine
