Israeli minerals magnate Beny Steinmetz convicted of corruption
Tycoon sentenced to five years in prison for bribing officials and forging documents to gain mining rights in Guinea
The Israeli diamond and minerals magnate Beny Steinmetz has been convicted of corrupting foreign agents and forging documents by a Geneva court, in a trial over an attempt to reap lavish iron ore resources in Guinea.
Steinmetz, considered by some to be Israel’s richest man, was sentenced to five years in prison but had faced a maximum of 10 years in the case.
He was also ordered to pay a $50m fine. His defence lawyer, Marc Bonnant, said he would appeal.
Steinmetz, 64, had denied the charges. The plot, dating to the mid-2000s, involved Steinmetz’s BSGR Group squeezing out a rival for mining rights for vast iron ore deposits in Guinea’s southeastern Simandou region.
The case centered on alleged payouts of millions to a former wife of late president Lansana Conte, and exposed the shady and complex world of deal-making and cutthroat competition in the lucrative mining business.
Wearing a mask and flanked by his lawyers, Steinmetz – who has French and Israeli citizenship – calmly listened and jotted down notes as the judge, Alexandra Banna, read the facts of the case and the verdict over two hours. Attendance in the Geneva courtroom was limited due to Covid-19 concerns.
The Geneva prosecutor’s office alleged that Steinmetz and two other defendants engaged in corruption of foreign officials and falsification of documents to hide the paying of bribes from authorities and banks. Some of the funds allegedly passed through Switzerland – and the case has been investigated in Europe, Africa and the United States.
The prosecutor’s office said Steinmetz, starting in 2005, set up a corrupt deal with Conte, who ruled the West African country from 1984 until his death in 2008, and his fourth wife, Mamadie Toure, involving the payment of nearly $10 million.
In its court filing, the prosecutor’s office said BSGR won exploration and exploitation licences in Guinea between 2006 and 2010 in the Simandou region, and its competitor – Anglo-Australian mining group Rio Tinto – was “deprived between July and December 2008 of concessions it had up to then held in the Simandou North blocs 1 and 2.”
Swiss transparency group Public Eye said Steinmetz employed “opaque structures” to hide the allegedly corrupt schemes that were managed from Geneva, where he lived until 2016.
The group said the case showed how tax havens can be used to conceal questionable, “even illegal” activities in countries with weak governance and regulation.
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About The Steinmetz Foundation
The Agnes and Beny Steinmetz Foundation is an Israeli organization that works to make a positive impact on different parts of Israeli society, specifically within the spheres of education, culture, health, and social welfare. The foundation was established by Agnes and Beny Steinmetz in 2007 as a means of best implementing their efforts to do good. Specifically, the foundation ensures that local authorities are able to provide early childhood education services and supports organizations that use unique tools to help young people at risk.
Vision & Goals
Steinmetz Foundation aims to strengthen the social strength of Israel and the creation of a better future for children and youth in the country.
Preschool
Preschoolers are at a critical stage of development and health, but the childcare system in Israel is complex and in need of improvement. It is for this reason that the foundation has placed a focus on early childhood education as it pursues significant systemic change. The foundation seeks to increase awareness about the importance of formalized early childhood care. It actively encourages local and national authorities to take charge of the well-being and development of all children in Israel from the moment they are born.
The foundation works in cooperation with the local authorities to establish and administer early childhood education services within communities. In the framework of these partnerships, early childhood education centers as well as training programs have been formed for both professionals and parents in order to ensure that the children and their families receive all the necessary care.
Afterschool Childcare Facilities
The Steinmetz Foundation together with the Ezra Vetikva organization helps run afterschool childcare facilities in the city of Netanya. The facilities serve children in first and second grade and provide them with a hot meal, assistance with homework, and enrichment classes.
At-Risk Youth
At-risk youth are young people whose needs are not properly addressed by classical frameworks.
The Steinmetz Foundation supports organizations that provide creative and innovative approaches to working with at-risk youth in order to allow them to succeed and become a part of more traditional frameworks.
The Steinmetz Foundation also established a forum of organizations that work with at-risk youth. The forum convenes annually and is designed to help the member organizations gain more professional expertise in their respective fields, promote their work, expand their influence, and raise awareness among the relevant personnel in the education and welfare systems.
Higher Education
The Steinmetz Foundation grants annual scholarships to students at Netanya Academic College. The scholarship requires the recipients to help children in a variety of frameworks.
Culture, Health, and Welfare
Out of a profound commitment to Israeli society, the Steinmetz Foundation supports a wide range of organizations that work in education, welfare, culture, and health. The foundation assists museums and theaters as well as the Israel Cancer Association.
Beny Steinmetz – Founder and Chairman
Beny Steinmetz is a business executive and philanthropist. As the chairman of the Agnes and Beny Steinmetz Foundation, he is actively involved in a multitude of philanthropic initiatives.
Philanthropy
In 2006, Beny and his wife, Agnes, founded the Agnes and Beny Steinmetz Foundation, a philanthropic organization that supports a range of causes with an emphasis placed on the welfare and education of young people. More than 50,000 children, 3,000 parents, and 2,000 faculty members have benefited from the grants that the foundation has issued to a variety of initiatives.
Beny has an honorary doctorate from the Netanya Academic College in recognition of his efforts on behalf the students.
Support for the Arts and Culture
The Steinmetz family also makes large contributions in the fields of culture and the arts in Israel, specifically to the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, where two galleries were inaugurated in the family’s name.
Management
Board of Directors
Mr. Beny Steinmetz
Mrs. Agnes Steinmetz
Mrs. Marion Wiesel
Professor Elie Wiesel
Adv.Ram Caspi
Prof. Itamar Rabinovich
Adv. Pinhas Rubin
Audit Committee
Mr. Avi Levy, CPA
Mr. Adi Uziel, CPA
CEO
Adv. Iris London-Zolty
CFO
Mr. Solomo Hollander, CPA
Director of Youth at Risk programs
Mrs. Shelly Menachem
Professional consultation in the field of early childhood
Mrs. Anat Bar
Director of Social Welfare programs
Mrs. Ialna Murray
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