French-Israeli diamond magnate Beny Steinmetz went on trial in Geneva, Switzerland, yesterday over allegations of corruption linked to mining deals in Guinea, after a drawn-out international investigation.
Steinmetz, who traveled from Israel to take part in the two-week trial, has denied wrongdoing in the case, which involves allegations of multimillion-dollar bribes paid to top Guinean officials to win lucrative mining rights.
The 64-year-old businessman faces charges of corrupting public officials and forging documents following a six-year inquiry.
Photo: Reuters
Swiss prosecutors accuse him and two partners of bribing a wife of former Guinean president Lansana Conte and others to win mining rights in the southeastern Simandou region, which is thought to contain the world’s biggest untapped iron ore deposit.
Steinmetz has previously dismissed the allegations as baseless and an attempt by political enemies to smear him.
Prosecutors say Steinmetz obtained the mining rights shortly before Conte died in 2008 after about US$10 million was paid in bribes, some through Swiss bank accounts.
Prosecutors claim Steinmetz and representatives in Guinea entered a “pact of corruption” with Conte and his fourth wife, Mamadie Toure. She is a key witness in the trial and is scheduled to testify on today, although it remains unclear if she will come.
Bonnant has said that his client “never paid a cent to Ms Mamadie Toure” and claims that she was not married to Conte, she was his mistress, meaning she could not be considered a corruptible official under Swiss law.
Conte’s dictatorship ordered global mining giant Rio Tinto to relinquish two concessions to BSGR for about US$170 million in 2008. Just 18 months later, BSGR sold 51 percent of its stake in the concession to Brazilian mining giant Vale for US$2.5 billion.
However, in 2013, Guinea’s first democratically elected president, Alpha Conde, launched a review of permits allotted under Conte and later stripped the VBG consortium formed by BSGR and Vale of its permit.
Steinmetz could be jailed for up to 10 years if convicted.
POLAND-GERMANY RIFT: Warsaw’s response to Berlin over a NATO system that would increase the alliance’s involvement in the war came as Kyiv accused Russia of war crimes Anti-missile systems that Germany offered to send to Poland should instead go to Ukraine, the Polish government said on Thursday, a proposal that is likely a nonstarter for Berlin because it would significantly ratchet up NATO involvement in Ukraine. Poland’s surprising response to Berlin’s offer was welcomed by Ukraine, which is desperate to protect its airspace as barrages of Russian missiles have knocked out power across the country. German Minister of Defense Christine Lambrecht said that use of NATO defense systems outside its territory needs to be agreed by all member states. “It is important to us that Poland can rely on allies
MONEY-MAKING SCHEME: Some students said they were misled about study or work opportunities, or were not told that they were coming to a self-proclaimed republic Foreign students are big business in northern Cyprus, a tiny, breakaway statelet only recognized by Turkey, but some warn that university recruiters are selling “dreams” in the internationally and economically isolated territory. One Nigerian student, who asked to remain anonymous, said he expected to arrive in the country whose soccer teams compete in European tournaments. Instead, when he saw the currency was the embattled Turkish lira, he realized this was “not the Cyprus I thought it was.” The Mediterranean island is divided between the internationally recognized Republic of Cyprus and a northern statelet established after Turkey launched a 1974 invasion in
COUNTERING CHINA: The vice president said on the island of Palawan that the US supports the Philippines ‘in the face of intimidation ... in the South China Sea’ US Vice President Kamala Harris yesterday visited a Philippine island near waters claimed by Taiwan and China to show support for the longtime US ally and counter Beijing’s growing influence in the region. Harris is the highest-ranking US official ever to visit the western island of Palawan, the closest Philippine landmass to the Spratly Islands (Nansha Islands, 南沙群島) in the hotly contested South China Sea. Beijing claims sovereignty over almost the entire sea and has ignored an international court ruling that its claims have no legal basis. Taiwan, the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam have overlapping claims to parts of
CRACKDOWN ON DISSENT: The prosecution had shelved sedition charges against the six in exchange for the defendants pleading guilty to ‘conspiring’ with Jimmy Lai Six former employees of a now-defunct Hong Kong pro-democracy newspaper yesterday pleaded guilty to a collusion charge under the National Security Law that has silenced and jailed most opposition voices in the southern Chinese territory. The staff members of the Apple Daily were arrested last year during a crackdown on dissent after Beijing imposed the sweeping security law in response to the widespread anti-government protests in 2019. They were charged with conspiracy to commit collusion with foreign forces to endanger national security. The six have been in pre-trial custody for almost a year-and-a-half. The law criminalizes acts of secession, subversion, terrorism, and collusion
RSS