While the 2008 British drama film ‘Slumdog Millionaire‘, directed by Danny Boyle, has raced on to rake in millions of dollars, the two Hindi-speaking, slum, 7 year-old child stars of the film, live in a state that is worse than before they became filmstars. Azharuddin’s illegal family hut was demolished by local authorities and Azharuddin now lives underneath a plastic tarp.

A British Telegraph report said Rubina was paid between $716 and $1000, while Azharuddin received $2,400. These figures are disputed by Fox Searchlight, which distributed the film, Boyle and Colson. All the money Azharuddin was paid has been spent on medicine for his father who suffers from tuberlocus.

The studio says they have set up trust funds for both children and paid for their elementary and secondary education. It also supplies a monthly stipend for books and food. However, the parents say they are disillusioned as the success of the film had not improved the lot of the families. A World Bank report last year stated that 77% of India’s population lives on less than $2 a day.

Christian Colson, producer, says, “The two children stars, Rubina Ali and Azharuddin Ismail had been paid three times the amount of an annual adult salary  in their slum, for one month’s work. Also a substantial lump sum would be paid to the children once they reached 18 and completed their studies.”

‘Slumdog Millionaire‘ recently won four Golden Globes and has been nominated for 10 Oscars. According to Box Office Mojo it has raked in $85 million worldwide so far.

The film centres on a Mumbai teenager who grew up in the slums, becomes a contestant on the Indian version of “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?” He is arrested under suspicion of cheating, and while being interrogated, events from his life history are shown which explain why he knows the answers.

Mr Boyle now says, “The profits from the film will be ploughed back into the Mumbai slums where it was made. It is our chance to pour something back into an extraordinary city that helped us produce an extraordinary film.”

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The world’s biggest fraud in history was revealed when Bernard Madoff, 70 year old Wall Street guru and trader and ex chairman of the Nasdaq Stock Market was arrested last week. He allegedly masterminded a $US50 billion fraudulent Ponzi scheme. Madoff’s arrest and liquidation of his company adds further fuel to the spiraling costs of a financial world, already in crisis.

Madoff, who was said to be of ‘impeccable reputation’, headed a firm which was supposedly a market-maker for around 350 Nasdaq stocks.

“Madoff’s investors included captains of industry, corporations, (some publicly traded),  that used Madoff ‘s company as if it were a high-yielding cash management account, including endowments, universities, foundations and many high-profile funds of funds,” said Douglas Kass, head of the hedge fund, Seabreeze Partners Management.

A Ponzi scheme is an illegal investment vehicle, that pays off old investors with money from new ones. Like any pyramid scheme it is totally dependent on a constant stream of new incoming investment. Because the invested capital is not able to earn a sufficient return on its own, such schemes eventually collapse under their own weight, as investors are paid with money that isn’t there.

Prior to the arrest, some investors had questioned how Madoff was able to generate annual returns in the low double digits in a variety of market environments, come rain or shine. Many wondered how US regulators were able to ignore the numerous red flags, in regards to Madoff’s operations. However, such niggling doubts were not enough to stop the high-profile organizations, individuals and companies from continuing to take the high return offered by Madoff. A case of grinning all the way to the bank, until you get your fingers burnt.

Continuing in the style of his grandee nature, Madoff is accused, by prosecutors, of wanting to distribute as much as $US300 million to employees, family members and friends, before turning himself in. Just too bad if you are not on the receiving end of such a deal.

Charged with one count of securities fraud, Madoff could face up to 20 years imprisonment and a $US5 million fine. The US Securities and Exchange Commission have filed separate civil charges.

A hearing was scheduled for Friday afternoon in US District Court in Manhattan on the SEC’s request, in order to grant powers to the court-appointed receiver to oversee the entire operations of the advisory business known as Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securites LLC.  It is believed that at least $15 billion has totally disappeared before the firm’s assets were frozen.

“The hearing was cancelled after the matter was resolved,” said a deputy for US District Judge Louis Stanton. No other details were immediately available. Madoff was released on $US10 million bond.

Billions of dollars were entrusted through the firm’s clients by high-profile organizations and individuals. Believing it to be a once in a lifetime Blue Moon Opportunity,  such charities as set up by Hollywood director Steven Spielberg used the company’s services and invested money with Madoff.  Other victims were a foundation set up by Mort Zuckerman, one of the world’s richest media and property magnates in the US, Frank Lautenberg’s foundation, besides dozens of Jewish organizations, sport team owners and a senator from New Jersey. The tragedy is that those charities will now suffer along with everyone else’s financial misery.

US authorities are presently liquidating the company.

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It has been revealed that the Somali Pirates operate a world wide information gleaning network. In particular they look for illegal cargo, such as the 33 tanks being carried on the MV Faina, hijacked a few months back.

A  Somalia expert at Purdue University in Indiana, Michael Weinstein says “The huge Somali world wide diaspora (200,000 living in Canada alone), have taken to piracy as they would to any other business enterprise. Just as you would buy shares in any syndicate, you get a cut of the ransom dollars, when you buy in.”

The world piracy capital, Eyl, an outback, run down fishing village in Somali, where numerous hijacked ships are docked, receives only a small portion of the millions being paid in ransom.

Suleyman, one of the pirates  said, “We have negotiators, translators and agents in many areas of the world.” Acting as money changers and agents for the pirates, they earn a percentage of the ransom payments. Many are Somali expatriates.

They have agencies in Mombasa, Piraeus, Naples, and Rotterdam.  Information is received through spies working at shipping and marine insurance firms in the Gulf, East African and European ports. Anywhere the merchant vessels heading for the Gulf of Aden, the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean dock.  The pirates are briefed on the number of security guards and weapons available on board the vessel, a well as the cargo.

Though the pirate leaders are known by sight and by name, rather than exposing themselves and their exact location, they use their proxies to negotiate the ransom and terms for releasing hijacked vessels. These front men also are the buyers of the latest in navigation equipment, GPS, speed boats, communications gear, food, fuel and any other supplies needed by the pirate community.

As Somalia is a bank-failed state, only cash and an informal transfer network, called ‘hawala’ is used. In ‘hawala’ an operator receives the money at one end and then instructs a relative, friend or another agent to hand a like amount to someone else. This has created a paperless system, based merely on trust and oral agreements.

More and more however, the pirates are opting for cash settlements, in an attempt to bypass government surveillance. They warn strongly against anyone using false money on them. Early in the year the pirates asked for money delivered to the Gulf. Strangely, no one would volunteer to carry it.

The ultimatum for the ransom payment of $25 million for the MV Sirus Star, the Dubai owned oil tanker, taken on Nov 18th, carrying $100 million in crude oil, is drawing to a close. “We do expect a favourable reply,” said the leader of the group Mohammed Said.

Armed private-security agencies from Dubai see this as a once in a lifetime Blue Moon Opportunity to make a score. They are now offering their highly paid services to protect vulnerable shipping. However in a recent brazen attack on a Liberia-flagged oil and chemical tanker, three men jumped overboard and were fished out of the water by a German helicopter. They were former British soldiers providing security for the MV Buscagalia.

Crew aboard the MV Faina line the ships rails. Somali Pirates surround them.

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All is doom and gloom in the world of finance, yet things are vastly different to the days of the Great Depression in the 1930’s. On one hand we have Somali pirates holding shipping companies to ransom for millions of dollars, while a world away, million dollar rock stars are being recovered from the murky depths of the earth.

The world’s 20th largest rough diamond ever found, weighs in at a mere 478 carats. It was recently recovered from the Letseng Diamond mine, in the tiny South African kingdom of Lesotho.

This new gem is a baby compared to the Cullinan diamond that weighed in uncut, at 3,106 carats. From the Cullinan diamond the Great Star of Africa was cut, besides 104 other diamonds. The Great Star of Africa adorns King Edward’s scepter and can be viewed among the British Crown Jewels, in the Tower of London.

While the new found, still unnamed diamond, also remains unvalued, its sister stone,  the Letseng Promise sold for $12.4 million dollars. An early recovery from the same mine, the Letseng Legacy sold for $10.4 million.

Analysis at Antwerp revealed that new gem has the highest colour grade and because of its round shape has the potential of being cut to become the world’s largest round flawless diamond ever found. In a polished state it could be valued at tens of millions of dollars.

The potentially largest new round, flawless, diamond, weighing 150 carats, would dwarf the cursed, 103 carat Koh-i-Nor diamond, which is the centre piece of the Queen Mother, the Queen Elizabeth’s coronation crown. The Koh-i-Nor diamond is said to be a curse for anyone other than a woman.

“Preliminary examination of this remarkable now-found diamond indicates that it will yield a record breaking polished stone of the very best color and clarity,” says the CEO and  Chairman of Gem Diamonds.

From 1977 to 1982 the Letseng mine was operated by De Beers Mining Company. It is the highest diamond mine in the world, being 3,100 metres above sea level, though it only reaches to around 645 metres deep. Only reopened in 2004 in a joint venture between Gem Diamonds and the Lesotho government its yield is 90% of jewel quality. This makes the Letseng a unique mine.

Three of the world’s top diamonds have been recovered from the Letseng mine – the 601 carat Lesotho Brown in mid 1960, the 603 carat Lesotho Promise, August 2006 and the Letseng Legacy recovered in Sept 2007.

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