On any given day but Friday or the Jewish holidays, Hoveniersstraat, with its tiny Sephardic synagogue, is liberally sprinkled with Orthodox Jewish traders, many of them Hasidim.

But their once dominant presence has been squeezed by the arrival of traders from new markets, like Mr. Kamliss. Now people from about 70 nations are present, including Indians, Israelis, Lebanese, Russians, Chinese and others. Along neighboring Lange Herentalsestraat, Rachel’s Kosher Restaurant is now flanked by the Bollywood Indian Restaurant and the Shanti Shop Indian supermarket. In the nearby Jewish quarter, Patel’s Cash & Carry recently installed itself right next to Moszkowitz, the butcher.

Some here say this globalization of the business has opened the door to abuse.

Omega Diamonds, a major market maker, came under investigation and its executives fled Belgium when an employee-turned-whistle-blower revealed in 2006 how Omega had traded diamonds out of Africa for years, avoiding taxes by transacting deals through Dubai, Tel Aviv and Geneva, then moving the profits back to Belgium.

“Because of global changes, the trade routes have changed,” said David Renous, 47, the whistle blower, who is now writing a book on the subject. “New hubs, like Dubai, the Singapore of the Middle East, sometimes close their eyes to criminality.”

A year earlier, in 2005, an Antwerp-based courier business, Monstrey Worldwide Services, which once had a near monopoly on diamond deliveries, was alleged to have misused customs-free zones in places like Geneva to smuggle stones. More recently, in 2009, investigations into possible tax evasion were begun regarding hundreds of diamond dealers, including many in Antwerp, named on lists of account holders at the Swiss branch of the British HSBC bank. Last year, similar inquiries were opened in India and in Antwerp after WikiLeaks provided the authorities with lists of Indian citizens, including dozens of diamond traders, holding Swiss bank accounts.

None of these investigations have led to trials in Antwerp, much less convictions.

Antwerp’s prosecutors, said Alex Kestens, who has covered the cases for the Gazet van Antwerpen, the city’s leading paper, “are slowest when diamonds are involved,” for fear of tarnishing Antwerp’s diamond business.

Image Credit... The New York Times

Indeed, in recent months there have been headlines about a struggle between a junior prosecutor, Peter Van Calster, who has pushed for more aggressive investigations, and his superior, Yves Liégeois, who sought to sideline Mr. Van Calster by bringing charges against him for alleged investigative errors. Mr. Van Calster is suing his boss in Belgium’s highest administrative court, in the capital Brussels.