Beny Steinmetz indicted in Switzerland for bribery
Israeli billionaire Beny Steinmetz and two associates
are facing criminal charges in Switzerland for allegedly paying bribes to win mining licences in Guinea between 2005 and 2010.
The Geneva public prosecutor
said in a statement Monday the defendants are charged with the criminal offenses of “foreign bribery and forgery.”
The prosecutor, Claudio Mascotto,
said Steinmetz and the others “promised in 2005 and then paid or had bribes paid to one of the wives of former Guinean President Lansana Conte” to win mining rights for Beny Steinmetz Group Resources or BSGR.
Some of the $10 million in alleged bribe money was transferred through Geneva when Steinmetz was living there, the prosecutor said.
BSGR has always denied wrongdoing in Guinea.
Steinmetz’s lawyer in Geneva, Marc Bonnant, told the Financial Times this week that “Beny Steinmetz denies categorically any wrongdoings.
The FCPA Blog
http://www.fcpablog.com/blog/2019/8/14/beny-steinmetz-indicted-in-switzerland-for-bribery.html