Greek top court frees Israeli mining magnate Beny Steinmetz, overturning extradition
Judges accept businessman’s appeal against being sent to Romania, where he is wanted to serve out five-year sentence for real estate fraud
Greece’s top court has ordered the release of French-Israeli mining magnate Beny Steinmetz, setting aside a lower court ruling for his extradition to Romania on an arrest warrant, his lawyer and a source with knowledge of the case told Reuters on Wednesday.
Steinmetz was initially detained by Greek police on October 13, hours after he arrived on a private aircraft at Athens International Airport. He had been freed from custody, under restrictions, and then detained again in January after a judicial panel ordered his extradition to Romania.
Steinmetz had appealed against that decision at the country’s Supreme Court.
“The top court has accepted his appeal,” the source said on Wednesday.
An arrest warrant has been issued against him in relation to a case dating back several years and concerning his involvement in a group that allegedly tried to illegally secure land rights in Romania.
Steinmetz’s legal advisers had dismissed the Romanian authorities’ accusations as “unfounded” and called the extradition requests by Romania “abusive,” arguing that he has the right to travel freely.
“This is another vindication for Beny Steinmetz. The decision is exceptionally important as it comes from the higher level of justice in Greece,” his lawyer, Stavros Togias, told Reuters.
Steinmetz was expected to be freed from a prison in Athens later in the day.
Romanian authorities have repeatedly attempted to indict Steinmetz in various jurisdictions on the same allegations.
In 2022, a Greek court that examined his case had ruled against his extradition. Last year, Cyprus’s Court of Appeal also ruled against his extradition to Romania, overturning a lower court ruling. A court in Italy has also rejected the request.
Romania convicted Steinmetz in absentia for real estate fraud and in December 2020 sentenced him to five years in prison. An initial Interpol “red notice” to detain Steinmetz was ordered, but later canceled due to concerns that the trial against Steinmetz was “politically motivated,” his spokesman said in 2023 when the businessman was similarly detained in Cyprus, but then released on bail.
Aside from the Romanian conviction, in 2021 Steinmetz was convicted by Switzerland of bribery in another corruption trial linked to mining rights in Guinea and was sentenced to three years, of which half were to be served in prison.
In November last year, a Swiss court rejected his bid to scrap the jail sentence.
The Times of Israel Community.