Billionaire charged over Guinea bribery case

Israeli billionaire Beny Steinmetz and two associates are to stand trial for allegedly bribing Guinean officials to win mining licences, Swiss prosecutors confirmed. The trio allegedly paid $10m to one of the wives of former Guinean President Lansana Conte. Legalbrief reports that Steinmetz was arrested in 2017 as part of a joint investigation by Israeli and Swiss anti-corruption officials over allegations of fraud, breach of trust, bribery, obstruction of justice and false registration of corporate documents with the apparent purpose of money laundering. Steinmetz and his mining company Beny Steinmetz Group Resources (BSGR) have previously denied any wrongdoing. A report on the Devdiscourse site notes that BSGR walked away from Guinea's massive Simandou iron ore project as part of a settlement announced in February which ended a long-running dispute with the West African nation, the company and Guinea's Government said at the time. BBC News reports that the prosecution claims Steinmetz obtained the mining rights in the Simandou region of south-eastern Guinea just before Conte died in 2008. They charge that the money was paid to a wife of the country's former President partially through Swiss bank accounts. In February, Guinean authorities dropped corruption charges against Steinmetz and BSGR in exchange for relinquishing rights to the Simandou mine. The two other defendants in the matter have not been named and the judge has yet to set a trial date.