Diamond magnate Beny Steinmetz held in Greece amid extradition case

Israeli billionaire and diamond mine mogul Beny Steinmetz is facing uncertainty after he was detained by Greek police on Sunday evening over accusations of participation in a criminal enterprise, just hours after arriving via private plane at Athens International Airport.

Following an appearance before Greek prosecutors on Monday, the 68-year-old was released but now faces a ban on travelling outside Greece, pending a court ruling on an arrest warrant issued by Romania in connection with a high-profile illegal restitution case.

“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, recognising his right to travel freely,” Steinmetz’s attorney, Stavros Togias said.

Steinmetz had been sentenced to five years in prison in absentia by the Bucharest Court of Appeal in 2020, who had alleged his involvement in a criminal group between 2006 and 2013. 

Steinmetz’s arrest on Sunday is one among many attempts by Romania to successfully extradite those it claims were involved in the criminal enterprise. 

In 2023, co-accused Romanian royal heir Paul Lambrino avoided extradition to the country from Paris over claims he was involved in the same group that arranged for the illegal restitution of the Baneasa Royal Farm. 

A Greek court examining the Romanian-issued arrest warrant in 2022 had previously ruled against Steinmetz’s extradition out of concerns for his safety. Similar rulings against his extradition have since been made in Cyprus and Italy.

Complicated history of diamond mining

Steinmetz, considered by some to be Israel’s richest man, is the founder of Beny Steinmetz Group Resources (BSGR), a controversial mining company currently under investigation in several countries.

With a complicated operational history in West Africa, it is currently accused of breaching the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Steinmetz and BSGR deny such allegations.

Sentenced to five years in prison in 2021 after a Geneva court convicted him of corrupting foreign agents and forging documents, the mining magnate has faced a litany of scandals for over a decade. This conviction was then upheld in 2023. 

Initially brought against him in 2019, Steinmetz rejected the corruption charges presented by the Swiss government on behalf of Guinea after it was found that his company had illegally accrued contracts to mine iron ore in the West African country. 

Appearing in court in Geneva alongside two others, Steinmetz and his co-defendants attempted to evade prison terms over the alleged payment of $10 million (€9.2 million) in bribes for mining licences between 2005 and 2010.

Around the same period, a group of residents in the diamond-rich Kono district of Sierra Leone brought a lawsuit against Octea Limited, a subsidiary of BSGR. 

A claim for damages of $288 million (€209 million) was demanded in Sierra Leone’s High Court after locals alleged that Octea’s Koidu diamond mine — the largest in the country — had poisoned drinking water in the area, damaged residential buildings and failed to relocate hundreds of households. The company has denied all claims. 

He will now remain in Greece until Greek authorities have examined the case and can provide a ruling on his extradition to Romania.