Diamond Magnate Steinmetz Detained In Greece

Athens, Dec 9 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 9th Dec, 2021 ) :French-Israeli businessman Beny Steinmetz has been detained in Athens on an international warrant, but was conditionally freed, a Greek judicial source said Thursday.

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 organised 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 said he was released on condition that he remain in the country pending an investigation.