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As reported by the BBC, Beny Steinmetz was found guilty, in a Swiss court over the weekend for bribery and corruption in the obtaining of mining rights in Guinea. Steinmetz is the founder and President of BSRG. Yesterday, I detailed the contracts between BSRG and Mamadie Touré which purported to show the amounts of money paid, the schedule of payments and wiring instructions. Today we look at the allegations made at trial, the defenses raised, the verdict and its aftermath.
Allegations
According to the New York Times (NYT), the allegations “centered on alleged payouts of millions of dollars to a former wife of an ex-president of Guinea, Lansana Conté, who died in 2008. The trial exposed the shady and complex world of deal-making and cutthroat competition in the lucrative mining business.” The corruption was engaged in by the Beny Steinmetz Group (BSRG) which paid $8.5 million to Mamadie Touré, wife of the then Guinean President, Lansana Conté to help it secure rights to mineral deposits back in 2007.