THE Beny Steinmetz Group is perhaps the most successful, and controversial, diamond company you’ve never heard of. It’s the biggest buyer of diamonds from Anglo American’s diamond arm, De Beers, and a supplier to the luxury jewellery brand Tiffany & Co. But it is also a company that has been investigated by the US Federal Bureau of Investigations in six countries, and was accused of bribing Mamadie Touré, the wife of Guinea’s former dictator Lansana Conté, to score a $10bn iron concession in 2008 for $165m.Given that profile, it’s no surprise that the group, started by the Israeli tycoon of the same name, has fought hard to avoid the spotlight. But, given an alleged tax avoidance scam in SA and an ongoing US grand jury probe into Guinea, Steinmetz hasn’t been able to avoid the headlines entirely.Perhaps to mitigate this public glare, Steinmetz supposedly sold his 37.5% share in Steinmetz’s diamond segment, Diacore, to his brother, Daniel, in 2014.However, leaked details from the Pan...
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