Franco-Israeli diamond magnate Benny Steinmetz was arrested Cyprus Under a Romanian arrest warrant for an outstanding conviction, his spokesman said in a statement on Sunday. A spokesperson custody Cyprus confirmed the arrest of an Israeli at Larnaca airport under a Europol arrest warrant Romania. He appeared in a Larnaca court on Friday for an extradition hearing that will continue on September 8.
The 67-year-old billionaire was sentenced in absentia by Bucharest to five years in prison in 2020 for planning to create an “organized criminal group” within the framework of land transactions carried out between 2006 and 2008. It caused about 135 million euros in damage to Romania. According to a press release from his spokesperson, Beni Steinmetz was “temporarily detained by the Cypriot authorities upon his arrival at Larnaca Airport under a European Arrest Warrant issued by the Romanian authorities”.
A previous arrest in Greece
He is being held at a police station and Cypriot authorities have to decide what to do with the case, a spokesman told AFP. The report points out that a Greek court has already rejected a similar extradition request from Romania in 2022. The businessman was temporarily detained in Athens before being released. “Steinmetz welcomes the prospect of being released from Romania, a country notorious for human rights abuses, to another European country,” the statement said.
“He is determined that justice will prevail in Cyprus,” he said. In another case, Benny Steinmetz was sentenced last April to three years – including 18 months – in prison by a Swiss court over mining rights in Guinea. His group has announced that it intends to appeal the decision to the Swiss Supreme Court.
In the first instance, the billionaire was sentenced to five years in prison in early 2021 for “corruption of public officials”. News of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s arrest comes as he is expected to attend a tripartite summit with the Cypriot president and Greek prime minister scheduled for Monday in Cyprus.
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