House arrest for Israeli billionaire suspected of bribery

Israeli police today placed a prominent Israeli billionaire under house arrest on suspicion of bribing public officials in Guinea, a country with vast mineral deposits and mining operations, to promote his business interests there.

Beny Steinmetz has been placed under house arrest until 2 January after local police forces worked with law enforcement agencies in the United States, Switzerland and Guinea before detaining him.

The Secretary-General of Guinea’s Ministry of Mines, Saadou Nimaga, told Reuters that his government is not ready to make an extradition request but its investigation could implicate many people.

Guinea’s former minister of mines, Mahmoud Thiam, was arrested in New York last week on charges he was involved in bribery payments linked to Guinea’s mining industry.

The Israeli police said in a statement that the businessman, along with other Israelis living abroad, were suspected of paying tens of millions of dollars to senior public officials in Guinea to advance their businesses.

Israeli media reported that Steinmetz operates in Africa in mining and diamond and that suspicions against him were raised after a company he is connected with received control of a large mine in Guinea at almost no cost.

The company later sold rights to the mine to a large mining company in South America for billions of dollars.

Israel’s brief detention of billionaire businessman Beny Steinmetz on Monday over allegations of bribery is linked to a Guinean corruption investigation started in 2011, Guinea’s government said.