Beny Steinmetz, Israel’s richest person, agreed to be interviewed by Swiss authorities as part of an investigation relating to ownership of a Guinean iron-ore project, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Steinmetz is expected to meet with the office of Geneva’s public prosecutor in the city within the next four weeks, said the person, who was briefed on the matter and asked not to be identified as the investigation is confidential. Henri Della Casa, a spokesman for the prosecutor’s office, declined to comment on the planned interview.
Steinmetz has a net worth of $7.4 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, and his BSG Resources Ltd. owns a 49 percent stake in a venture that controls half of the giant Simandou iron ore deposit in Guinea. Steinmetz has offered to collaborate with Swiss authorities and is co-operating fully, his lawyer Marc Bonnant said yesterday in an e-mailed statement.
Steinmetz’s Geneva home was raided two weeks ago by Swiss Police following a request by the government of Guinea, a person familiar with the matter said Sept. 11, asking not to be identified as the probe isn’t public. No documents were taken away, that person said.
Guinea’s actions against Steinmetz and BSG Resources are a “campaign of intimidation and malicious lies, which are an attempt to damage his impeccable reputation,” Bonnant said.
The West African country is reviewing mining licenses including the one for Simandou, which was once described as the world’s largest untapped deposit of the steelmaking raw material. In April, a U.S. grand jury investigation began into claims that bribes were paid by BSG Resources for mining rights in Guinea. No charges have been filed.
Onyx Raid
Geneva’s public prosecutor said last month it opened an investigation into Onyx Financial Advisors U.K. at the request of Guinea. Swiss police last month raided the Geneva offices of Onyx, a London-based company whose chief executive officer, Dag Cramer, is a director of BSGR.
Onyx “provided the Swiss authorities with information following a request to Switzerland by the Government of Guinea,” it said in an Aug. 29 statement.
Guinea’s request for assistance from Swiss authorities is part of ongoing attempts to “expropriate illegally” mining rights over Simandou held by BSG Resources, the company said yesterday in an e-mailed statement that included Bonnant’s comments.
BSG Resources said in March that Guinea was preparing to remove mining rights from its joint venture with Brazil’s Vale SA, which plans a $10 billion mining operation at Simandou. The deposit is split into four blocks. Steinmetz’s company gained control of blocks 1 and 2 after the government ordered Rio Tinto Group to hand them over in 2008.
Confiscated Blocks
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