Swiss prosecutors said the Israeli billionaire Beny Steinmetz has been ordered to stand trial on bribery and corruption charges involving the widow of Guinea’s former president.
According to prosecutors in Geneva, the diamond-mining magnate and two other defendants allegedly paid $10 million in bribes to force out a competitor for mining rights in Guinea’s southeastern Simandou region between 2005 and 2010.
The three are accused of falsifying contracts and invoices to hide bribes allegedly paid to the wife of Guinean President at the time, Lansana Conté, who died in 2008.
If convicted, the prosecutor’s office plans to seek sentences of two to 10 years in detention.
Israeli authorities arrested Steinmetz in December 2016, he was later released under restrictive conditions.

