This archive report was first published on 13 August 2019.
Published on August 13, 2019, by the BBC, Israeli billionaire Beny Steinmetz and two associates are to stand trial for allegedly bribing Guinean officials to win mining licences.
The trio allegedly paid $10 million to one of the wives of former Guinean President Lansana Conte, who died in 2008.
Steinmetz and his mining company, Beny Steinmetz Group Resources (BSGR), have previously denied any wrongdoing.
The prosecution is seeking prison terms of two to 10 years for the trio.
The alleged bribery occurred in the Simandou region of south-eastern Guinea, where Steinmetz obtained mining rights just before Conte's death.
Guinean authorities dropped corruption charges against Steinmetz and BSGR in February, in exchange for relinquishing rights to the Simandou mine.
Steinmetz was detained and questioned by Israeli police in 2016 over the mining deals, which he denied any wrongdoing.
Simandou is one of the world's biggest iron deposits, containing billions of tonnes of high-grade ore.
