A key lieutenant to Beny Steinmetz, the diamond magnate accused of corruption in Guinea, has been held by Israeli police as the investigation into the Simandou saga intensifies.
Asher Avidan, the former boss of Mr Steinmetz’s BSG Resources in Guinea, was arrested yesterday in his native Israel, a day after Mr Steinmetz, one of Israel’s richest men, was put under house arrest by Israeli police.
A spokesman for the Israeli police, without identifying Mr Avidan, said that the arrest was related to an investigation into “bribery of a foreign public employee and money laundering” in co-operation with their counterparts in Guinea, the US and Switzerland.
BSGR is accused of orchestrating a corruption campaign that in late 2008 resulted in Rio Tinto being stripped of part of the Simandou concession, which is thought to be the world’s richest source of untapped iron ore. Rio Tinto has reported itself to the Serious Fraud Office and the authorities in the US and Australia over suspect payments made in 2011 to a consultant who was a friend of Guinea’s president, Alpha Condé.
BSGR has consistently denied wrongdoing and has begun arbitration proceedings against the Guinean government. It says it has been singled out for refusing to pay bribes or, like Rio did in 2011, to strike a negotiated settlement with the government. A spokesman for BSGR said: “Similar to yesterday [Monday], this is the same situation concerning the same obsolete investigations against BSGR initiated by the same government of Guinea. The allegations remain baseless . . . BSGR has been offering to assist the Israeli authorities on this matter for over a year. This heavy-handed approach by the Israeli authorities is clearly a publicity stunt.” Both men have denied any wrongdoing.
Advertisement
Emails allegedly sent by Mr Avidan have been quoted in the Guinean government’s response to BSGR’s arbitration claim. In one, sent in 2007, he is said to have written to Mr Steinmetz: “Since we are talking about taking them away from a huge company like Rio Tinto, they will need to have a real argument to hand it over to us. Therefore the minister suggested we prepare a presentation of all the . . . work we have done over the past 12 months. Soon after this . . . the president will take it away from Rio Tinto . . . and will hand it over to BSGR.”