Corruption: lawyers Beny Steinmetz counter-attack on testimony
Beny Steinmetz is accused of corruption in a lawsuit concerning the purchase of a mining concession in Guinea.
© REUTERS / DENIS BALIBOUSE
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2 min
The trial of Beny Steinmetz in Geneva began on Monday.
The Franco-Israeli billionaire is accused of having paid millions of bribes to the wife of former Guinean President Lansana Conte to claim the rights to a major iron mine.
He denies outright and sends his accusers back to back.
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With our correspondent in Geneva
,
Jérémie Lanche
For a while on Monday, Beny Steinmetz's advisers swapped their clothes as defense lawyers for those of the prosecution.
In their sights: the scheduled hearing of Mamadie Touré, ex-wife of Lansana Conte.
She could explain how the billionaire would have paid her more than $ 8 million to convince President Conte to grant her the rights to the Simandou mine.
Rejected applications
This is not the opinion of Steinmetz's lawyers, who claim that she received money from the Guinean state for her testimony.
And therefore that it is not valid.
The request rejected by the court, which did the same with the request for rejection of the testimony of the Israeli Ofer Kerzner.
This ex-partner of Beny Steinmetz is today his best enemy.
He would have reached an agreement with the Israeli justice system in exchange for his testimony, again a charge.
In any case, the approach of Beny Steinmetz's lawyers sets the tone for the trial.
Israel's former greatest fortune does not intend to take the blows without retaliating.
►Also read: Guinea: understanding the Beny Steinmetz affair
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