After his overthrow in 2021, Conde was allowed to leave Guinea last January, officially for medical care in the United Arab Emirates, but he still looms large in the West African nation despite the takeover by the army.

The tape surfaced last week amid a leadership quarrel in the Rally of the Guinean People (RPG), the party Conde fronted.

The tape underlines that the RPG must prepare for a serious deterioration in the country as the cost of living soars.

Conde also says in the recording that the party should adopt a collegial leadership and prevent his perennial opponent Cellou Dalein Diallo from taking advantage of the worsening social situation.

The authenticity of the recording has not been called into question.

Police put out a statement late Wednesday attributing the tape to Conde and suggesting he may not have realised he was being recorded.

The statement accused Conde's former foreign minister, Ibrahima Khalil Kaba, of asking the ex-president's personal doctor to seek Conde's opinion on the leadership battle and record him in the process.

The doctor then made the "clandestine recording" and sent it to the ex-foreign minister and a second person, the authorities said.

Conde's personal doctor Mbemba Kaba, who has recently returned from the UAE, and Ibrahima Khalil Kaba were arrested on Tuesday.

The two men face charges of invasion of privacy and unauthorised processing of private data.

The date for a court hearing was not given.

The RPG released a statement distancing itself from the recording and voicing "concern" at the arrest of the ex-foreign minister, a party member.

Coup leader Colonel Mamady Doumbouya had himself sworn in as president last October. He has promised to restore civilian rule, but so far resisted to committing to a date.