Steinmetz Claims Dozens Aware of Guinea Vote Rigging for Mine

Beny Steinmetz’s BSG Resources Ltd. has claimed hedge fund Och-Ziff Capital Management Group LLC and leading South African government officials are among dozens who knew of the “corrupt rigging” of an African election that led to the loss of the Israeli billionaire’s most valuable mineral asset.

Guinean President Alpha Conde and a raft of current and former government officials of the West African country, as well as South African secret-service agents and prominent business figures in the country, were all said to have knowledge of the election rigging that led to Conde taking power in 2010, according to a Sept. 3 filing in a federal court in New York. They also have knowledge of the subsequent “wrongful misappropriation” of mining rights from BSG Resources, or BSGR, to the world’s best untapped iron-ore deposit, Steinmetz’s company claimed.