BigwigsCondé is becoming increasingly reliant on former bigwigs from the Parti de l'unité et de progrès (PUP) the election winning machine of the late strongman Lansana Conté a master manipulator of the constitution and the high-ranking judges supposed to uphold it...
BSGR executives were accused of having bribed Mamadie Touré Conté the fourth wife of the late dictator Lansana Conté to gain mining rights to the northern half of Simandou...
He left the job of getting rid of whistleblower Kalil Keita to the newly appointed port director Hélène Savané who promptly obliged citing 'grave error' the go-to formula for a politically motivated dismissal since the days of the late president Lansana Conté...
His appointment by President Alpha Condé marks a return of the cadre of politicians who came to prominence under the regime of President Lansana Conté the putschist who later introduced multi-party democracy...
His one-time agent Frédéric Cilins was convicted of interfering in a US government investigation after he admitted trying to bribe Mamadie Conté née Touré widow of the Guinean dictator Lansana Conté to get her to deny that Steinmetz's company BSGR had been in touch with her (AC Vol 55 No 8 Beny fights on)...
In February Diallo signed a political agreement with the businessman Mamadou Sylla a former protégé of the late President General Lansana Conté (AC Vol 51 No 20 Odds now on Condé)...
Rio acquired the project in 1997 but saw its rights to the northern half of Simandou confiscated by the Guinean government and handed in 2008 to Beny Steinmetz Group Resources (BSGR) the mining arm of the Israeli billionaire's empire following criticism from the late President Lansana Conté about the lack of activity in exploiting its estimated $50 million potential...
Both Savané and Kaba were members of the RPG's National Political Bureau and the latter who was a minister in the government of the late autocrat Lansana Conté remains highly influential in the crucial constituency of Kan Kan...
They were particularly upset about the appointment of Abdul Karim Dioubaté as Interior Minister because he was an enemy of Condé's during the presidency of Lansana Conté from 1984 to 2008 (AC Vol 55 No 3 Condé's house clearance)...
The legality or otherwise of the government's decision to strip Steinmetz of his mining rights in Simandou will continue to be contested in court as will the legality of the award which the former military-backed Lansana Conté regime made to Steinmetz...
