Niron belongs to a secretly-owned firm in the Bahamas, according to documents in the UK’s corporate registry.

Taken together, these revelations mean there are serious questions to answer for one of the governing Conservative Party’s most important back-room operators. Why is he playing a key role in such a controversial deal? Why has he decided to team up in Guinea with a billionaire whose company has an established record of bribery there? And who are Niron’s secret financial backers?

The opaque settlement process also involves the world’s fifth biggest accountancy company, BDO, which signed off the new arrangements in its position as administrator of Steinmetz’s stricken company.