Billionaire businessman Beny Steinmetz has been unable to escape the pressure of the investigation into suspicions of paying foreign public servants millions of dollars in bribes and money laundering in the alleged corruption affair involving the iron mine in the African nation of Guinea. Steinmetz was questioned for three days last week in Switzerland on the same suspicions being investigated in Israel. An international investigation against him has been taking place for several years in various countries on similar suspicions.
One of the wealthiest and best-known Israelis in the world, whose wealth is believed to amount to billions of shekels, Steinmetz is suspected of paying a $30 million bribe to Guinean president and his wife for promoting his business interests in the country.
In Switzerland, Steinmetz was summoned for questioning on March 20-23 by Swiss Ministry of Justice official Claudio Mascotto, and he traveled there from Israel on March 19 with the consent of Israel Police. Steinmetz was "forced" to fly to Switzerland on a commercial flight, after the police asked the court to ban him from traveling to Switzerland on his private airplane. While Steinmetz is consistently asserting that the investigation against him consists of dredging up an old affair by an international conspiracy against him, the law enforcement authorities in Israel and worldwide are devoting great efforts to pursuing the investigation. Steinmetz's summons for questioning in Switzerland is the second such summons he has received this year; the first was in January. The Swiss authorities' investigation against him, however, began as early as 2013.
The investigation is currently being conducted jointly by law enforcement authorities in the US, Switzerland, Guinea, and Israel, as part of the international effort, led by the OECD, to combat bribery of foreign public officials throughout the world.
Published by Globes [online], Israel Business News - www.globes-online.com - on March 27, 2017
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2017