Swiss Federal Court upholds Beny Steinmetz’s bribery conviction
Switzerland's highest court has upheld the conviction of French-Israeli mining magnate Beny Steinmetz for bribery of foreign public officials. However, it ruled in his favour on the issue of a compensation claim.
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Steinmetz maintains his innocence and has indicated that he will take his case to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).
The 69-year-old was given a three-year sentence in March 2023, including 18 months in jail, for influencing the process of awarding mining rights in Simandou, in the West African country of Guinea. The Belgian director of his group in Geneva and the French businessman who acted as an intermediary in Africa also had their sentences upheld by the Federal Court.
In all, six rulings were handed down on March 24 and the conclusions were notified on Friday without any details, but including the rejection of Steinmetz’s application for a retrial.
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However, the Federal Court referred the case back to the Geneva courts concerning compensation claims of CHF50 million for Steinmetz and CHF5 million for the intermediary from the state of Geneva.
Corruption scheme
In 2023, a Geneva appeals court ruled, as did the Swiss Federal Criminal Court two years earlier, that the three suspects had participated in a corruption scheme to gain access to major iron ore deposits. The process had taken place through the intervention of a front company provided by one of the companies working for Beny Steinmetz Group Resources (BSGR).
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Active in the exploitation of natural resources, Steinmetz paid $8.5 million to Mamadie Touré, the fourth wife of Guinean President Lansana Conté, between 2006 and 2012. The granting of the rights then enabled BSGR to enter into a joint venture with the Brazilian company Vale worth $2.5 billion. BSGR immediately received $500 million.
No revision
Steinmetz has always maintained his innocence. In September, he applied for a retrial on the basis of unpublished documents obtained from the servers of the Israeli Ministry of Justice and forwarded by an Israeli investigative journalist.
However, the Geneva court said his request to challenge the prosecutor who investigated the case from 2023 to 2018 and to overturn his conviction was inadmissible. The Federal Court also rejected his appeal on this point.
A politicised justice system
In a statement sent via a PR company, Steinmetz said the Federal Court’s decision “demonstrates the politicisation of the Swiss legal system”. In his view, the proceedings against him in Geneva were “tainted by ideology” from the outset.
He deplores the dismissal of “clear and indisputable evidence” which, in his view, shows that the prosecutors who conducted the investigations suppressed exculpatory material. Essential facts were ignored, he claims, and his trial in Geneva was based “on storytelling”.
Steinmetz still argues that he legally obtained a mining concession from the Guinean authorities and denies any act of corruption. However, the businessman says in the press release that he has lost confidence in the ability of the Swiss judicial system “to deliver impartial justice”. He is now turning to the ECHR to “get to the truth”.
Adapted from French by DeepL/sb
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