Jeremy Ratcliffe, the former head of a charity started by Nelson Mandela, was acquitted on a charge of illegally possessing uncut diamonds, the South African Press Association reported, citing Magistrate Renier Boshoff.

The state prosecutor failed to prove its case against Ratcliffe, Boshoff said, according to Johannesburg-based SAPA.

Ratcliffe said he received three gems from model Naomi Campbell and he kept them because he did not want Campbell to get into trouble.

Campbell told the war crimes trial of former Liberian President Charles Taylor in The Hague in August that she was given uncut diamonds after a 1997 dinner at Mandela’s home and that she gave them to Ratcliffe, SAPA said.