The trial of Jeremy Ractliffe, a former trustee of the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund, has been postponed due to a power failure in the South African court and procedures are now scheduled to open Wednesday, news outlets report.

Ractliffe is accused of having received rough diamonds from model Naomi Campbell in 1997 in violation of South African law.

Campbell was presented with the diamonds in question from representatives of former Liberian leader Charles Taylor, who was recently tried in The Hague for war crimes allegedly committed under his regime and is awaiting the judges' verdict. The model, who gave testimony in the Taylor trial, has maintained that at the time she had never heard of Taylor or of "conflict diamonds."

She showed the stones to Ractliffe, who took them for safekeeping, as possession of rough diamonds is illegal in South Africa.

South African authorities have stated that Ractliffe's trial is unrelated to the proceedings against Taylor and the question of blood diamonds, and that the issue at hand is his alleged contravention of local law.