Israeli Diamond tycoon Beny Steinmetz was arrested in Greece on a warrant issued by Romanian authorities. Steinmetz was placed under arrest upon his arrival at Athens airport after traveling there in a private plane. He was convicted in Romania on charges of fraud.
The arrest came in spite of the fact that Beny Steinmetz was already detained in Greece on the same charges a year ago. At that time a Greek court ruled in his favor and dismissed the arrest warrant.
A spokesman for Beny Steinmetz criticized the Greek government for the arrest saying, “The Greek legal system has already ruled finally and irreversibly against extraditing Steinmetz to Romania. Mr. Steinmetz has been released until the issue is officially arranged.”
“It is unprecedented for the rule of law in Greece, or any other respected country, for such an administrative act to overturn a decision of the Greek judiciary, which had definitively and irrevocably ruled against his extradition to Romania, recognizing his right to travel freely,” added his Greek attorney Stavros Togias.
Steinmetz was released from custody, but is not allowed to leave Greece.
In 2021, Beny Steinmetz was found guilty in Switzerland on charges of corruption related to a mining deal that took place in the African nation of Guinea. Specifically, Steinmetz was convicted of corrupting foreign public officials and forging documents. He was sentenced to five years in prison and ordered to pay a $56.5 million fine by the court.
His mining company Beny Steinmetz Group Resources (BSGR) was charged with accused of paying $10 million in bribes for iron ore mining exploration permits in southern Guinea in 2008.
Beny Steinmetz is an Israeli businessman and entrepreneur, with a focus in the mining, energy, real estate and diamond-mining industries. He has been accused of corrupt and illegal business practices in multiple countries.
Steinmetz was born in Netanya, Israel in 1956. He is the fourth child of Rubin Steinmetz, a pioneer of the diamond trade. At the age of 21, after serving three years in the military, Steinmetz emigrated from Israel to Belgium, to the famous diamond hub, Antwerp.
In Antwerp, Steinmetz founded the Steinmetz Diamond Group, which became one of the world’s largest diamond trading companies. In the 1990s, Steinmetz expanded his business into mining, acquiring interests in several African countries. In 2008, he acquired the rights to the Simandou iron ore deposit in Guinea, one of the world’s largest.
Steinmetz’s business practices have been the subject of controversy. In 2013, he was accused of bribing Guinean officials to secure the rights to the Simandou deposit. He was also accused of using his political connections to obtain mining licenses in other African countries. In 2017, he was indicted in the United States on charges of violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
Despite the controversies surrounding him, Steinmetz remains a powerful figure in the global mining industry. He is the chairman and co-founder of the Agnes & Beny Steinmetz Foundation, a philanthropic organization that supports education and social welfare projects in Israel. He is also a major art collector, with a collection that includes works by Pablo Picasso, Vincent van Gogh, and Claude Monet.
