Greece says Israeli diamond magnate Beny Steinmetz conditionally freed

French-Israeli businessman Beny Steinmetz is conditionally freed after he was detained in Athens on an international warrant, a Greek judicial source says.

Last January, a Swiss court sentenced the 65-year-old billionaire diamond magnate to five years in prison and a fine of 50 million Swiss francs (46 million euros, $52 million) for bribing public officials to obtain access to mining rights in Guinea.

And prior to that, he was convicted in Romania and similarly sentenced to five years for setting up “an organized criminal group” in a series of land deals between 2006 and 2008 which cost the Romanian state an estimated 135 million euros ($152 million).

It was Bucharest that had issued the international arrest warrant.

Steinmetz was detained entering Greece on November 24 from Israel on a private jet and the judicial source says he was released on condition that he remain in the country pending an investigation.