Address: a) BP 333, Bangui, Central African Republic (Tel. +32 3 2310521, Fax. +32 3 2331839, email: kardiam.bvba@skynet.be, website: www.groupeabdoulkarim.com b) Antwerp, Belgium
Date of UN designation: 20 Aug. 2015
Other Information: Headed by Abdoul-Karim Dan-Azoumi, since 12 December 1986 and by Aboubakar Mahamat, since 1 January 2005. Branches include MINAiR, and SOFIA TP (Douala, Cameroon).
INTERPOL-UN Security Council Special Notice web link: https://www.interpol.int/en/notice/search/une/5891200
Information from the narrative summary of reasons for listing provided by the Sanctions Committee:
The Bureau d'achat de Diamant en Centrafrique/KARDIAM was listed on 20 August 2015 pursuant to paragraph 12 (d) of Resolution 2196 (2015) as ‘providing support for armed groups or criminal networks through the illicit exploitation or trade of natural resources, including diamonds, gold, as well as wildlife and wildlife products, in the CAR’
Additional information:
BADICA/KARDIAM has provided support for armed groups in the Central African Republic, namely former Séléka and anti-Balaka, through the illicit exploitation and trade of natural resources, including diamonds and gold.
The Bureau d'Achat de Diamant en Centrafrique (BADICA) continued in 2014 to purchase diamonds from Bria and Sam-Ouandja (Haute Kotto province) in the east of the Central African Republic, where former Séléka forces impose taxes on aircraft transporting diamonds and receive security payments from diamond collectors. Several of BADICA's supplying collectors in Bria and Sam-Ouandja are closely associated with former Séléka commanders.
In May 2014, Belgian authorities seized two diamond parcels sent to BADICA's representation in Antwerp, which is officially registered in Belgium as KARDIAM. Diamond experts assessed that the diamonds seized have a high probability to be of Central African origin, and that they display characteristics typical of Sam-Ouandja and Bria, as well as Nola (Sangha Mbaéré province), in the south west of the country.
Traders who were purchasing diamonds illegally trafficked from Central African Republic to foreign markets, including from the western part of the country, have operated in Cameroon on behalf of BADICA.
In May 2014, BADICA also exported gold produced in Yaloké (Ombella-Mpoko), where artisanal gold mines fell under control of Séléka until the beginning of February 2014, when anti-Balakagroups took over.