Mining magnate Beny Steinmetz to be freed by top Greek court

GREECE’S top court has ordered the release of 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.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 advisors 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.In 2021, a Geneva court last week sentenced Steinmetz to five years in jail after finding him guilty of offering $8.5m to the wife of deceased former Guinea president, Lansana Conté for the rights to part of the Simandou iron ore deposit.Steinmetz appealed the decision which was rejected in November 2024.Steinmetz’s lawyers denounced a “shocking decision”, which they said in a statement “amounts to a denial of reality”. They vowed to appeal the review decision to Switzerland’s highest court, where their appeal against the verdict itself is also pending.The post Mining magnate Beny Steinmetz to be freed by top Greek court appeared first on Miningmx.Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Mining.com Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Mining.com