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Mining tycoon Beny Steinmetz was detained by Cypriot authorities at Larnaca airport under a warrant issued by Romania following his conviction and sentencing in absentia.
The Israeli and French businessman was sentenced in December 2020 to five years in prison by the Romanian Supreme Court for his role in an illegal property scheme with local businessmen in the capital Bucharest. He has appealed the decision.
Steinmetz, who originally made his money from diamond trading, will remain at the police station where he is being held until Friday, when he will be brought to court, according to his spokesperson. Steinmetz, 67, can then request to be released from custody. Both Italy and Greece have previously decided against enforcing the European Arrest Warrant issued by Romania, his spokesman said.
“Beny Steinmetz welcomes the opportunity to be vindicated in one more European state against Romania, a country infamous for its disrespect to human rights,” his spokesman said in a statement. “He is confident that justice will prevail in Cyprus as well.”
In April, a Geneva court upheld a 2021 conviction against Steinmetz for bribing public officials in Guinea to secure an iron-ore concession worth billions of dollars. Steinmetz continues to argue that Swiss judges misinterpreted how he won the rights to the Simandou, the world’s richest untapped iron-ore deposit, and is appealing to the Swiss Supreme Court.
Steinmetz negotiated a deal with Swiss authorities ahead of his original trial that meant that in return for testifying in person in Switzerland, he wouldn’t face detention in the event of his conviction.
Steinmetz is not currently listed among Interpol’s red notices: requests for law enforcement agencies globally to arrest someone. Not all red notices are published on Interpol’s website.
(By Gwen Ackerman and Alisa Odenheimer)
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