(IDEX Online) - A lawsuit against Octea, a subsidiary of Israeli diamond and real estate billionaire Beny Steinmetz's BSG Resources (BSGR), has been thrown out by a court in Sierra Leone.The High Court ruled last Wednesday that it was beyond its jurisdiction to hear the case and lifted a freeze on the defendants' assets.Lawyers claimed in February that an Octea-owned mine in the east of the country had damaged the health and livelihoods of people living nearby.A separate claim filed in April, alleging that as many as 70 neighbors of another mine suffered respiratory infections and headaches, has yet to be heard.Mr Steinmetz (pictured) became a major player in the country's diamond industry after the end of its bloody 11-year civil war in 2002.Representatives of BSGR and Octea told the Reuters news agency it appeared some of the plaintiffs didn't exist. The plaintiffs' lawyer countered that such a claim was bogus and absurd.