Beny Steinmetz, owner of mining group BSG Resources, has been released without charge by Israeli police after being held under house arrest in connection with bribery allegations.

The diamond mining magnate, who has French and Israeli nationality and divides his time between Israel and Switzerland, was detained on December 19 by authorities investigating claims of corruption relating to a giant iron ore project in the west African country of Guinea.

BSGR is accused of using bribery to gain half the rights to Simandou in 2008, after paying a relative pittance for the project.

The deposit is thought to be one of the world’s richest seams of iron ore, used in steelmaking, but has been beset by legal wrangles.

BSGR, which denies any wrongdoing, subsequently lost its rights to the mine after the current Guinean government, which came to power in 2011, found it had bribed the former president’s wife to get its foothold on Simandou.