War crimes trial of former Liberian president
Charles Taylor expected to hear contradictory testimony from former
agent
The supermodel's claims that she did not know who had sent her a pouch of uncut diamonds 13 years ago are likely to be challenged by White, who accompanied Campbell to the now infamous dinner hosted by Nelson Mandela.
In 90 minutes of testimony given to the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) on Thursday, the Streatham-born supermodel said that while she had accepted the "dirty looking stones" when they were presented to her in the middle of the night in September 1997, she had no idea who had sent them.
At a charity dinner held earlier that night at Mandela's residence in Pretoria, she said she had engaged in no conversation specifically with Taylor, then newly elected to the Liberian presidency. She added that there had been no other contact with him, and that the first people to suggest it was he who had sent her the stones were White and the US actor Mia Farrow, when she told them of the diamonds over breakfast.
In evidence already given to the prosecution, however, White claims Campbell and Taylor were sitting next to each other at the dinner and were "mildly flirtatious" with each other. She said she heard him tell Campbell he would send her some diamonds.
"It was arranged that he would send some men back with the gift," the founder of the leading London agency Premier Model Management told the prosecutors, adding that her former protege "seemed excited about the diamonds and she kept talking about them".
Her testimony today is due to be followed by that of Farrow, who has also said that Campbell knew Taylor had given the gift. "She told us that she had been awakened in the night by knocking at her door, she opened the door to find two or three men ... who presented her with a large diamond which they said was from Charles Taylor," read a statement from Farrow.
For the prosecution, the possibility that Taylor sent Campbell uncut diamonds is evidence that he was linked to a trade in which he has denied all involvement.
At the time of the dinner, prosecutors allege, the warlord had recently received a delivery of blood diamonds from Sierra Leone.
They say he then used the profits from their sale, and his trip to South Africa, to buy arms for rebels committing atrocities in the country's civil war. Taylor, now 62, denies this, as he denies all 11 counts against him at the SCSL.
During her cross-examination, Campbell, 40, said she had sat between Mandela and Quincy Jones; had not spoken of diamonds to anyone; and had given the stones away not because she felt it would be inappropriate to accept gifts while in South Africa because of her work with underprivileged children.
For Taylor's defence lawyer, Courtenay Griffiths QC, the theory that his client had sent the diamonds to Campbell is based on "pure speculation".
He alleged White was using this court case as a means of smearing Campbell, against whom she is fighting a separate lawsuit, Griffiths said: "This is a woman who has a powerful motive to lie about you." "Correct," answered Campbell.