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Former Lazard Banker’s Home Raided in Rio Tinto Probe

  • SFO led raid on Francois de Combret’s home late last year
  • Friend of Guinean president, de Combret helped on Rio deal
Updated on

U.K. investigators raided the London home of a former investment banker to look for evidence connected with a bribery investigation into mining giant Rio Tinto Group, according to two people with knowledge of the matter.

The Serious Fraud Office led the raid on Francois de Combret’s home late last year, said the people, who asked not to be named because the details of the probe aren’t public. De Combret, a French national, is a suspect in the agency’s investigation into whether Rio Tinto paid bribes to help secure its Simandou iron-ore deposit in Guinea, the people said.