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Greek police have arrested an Israeli mining billionaire convicted for his role in a Romanian corruption scheme, Greek authorities and his lawyer said Monday.
Beny Steinmetz, who is the subject of an arrest warrant issued by Romanian authorities over an illegal land grab, was detained in Athens on Sunday after arriving on a flight from Tel Aviv and released on €5,000 bail.
“There was a decision of the European court which ruled that the warrant by Romanian authorities must be executed,” a senior Greek police official told POLITICO.
“The prosecutor’s office was informed and this way the police was also alerted and proceeded to the arrest. However, he was later on Monday released on bail with restrictions,” the official added, meaning Steinmetz cannot leave Greece while he awaits a court decision.
The arrest is the latest twist in a yearslong legal saga involving Steinmetz, who was convicted in 2020 by Romania’s highest court of being part of a plot to illegally claim ownership of lands that once belonged to the country’s defunct monarchy.
But Greece and Cyprus refused to extradite him to Romania, citing the country’s inhumane prison conditions, and Interpol canceled its arrest warrant. His co-defendants, including the Romanian prince Paul, also successfully challenged Romanian extradition requests in other EU countries.
Steinmetz’s lawyer Stavros Togias called the decision to arrest his client “unprecedented.”
“The decision to detain Mr Steinmetz, which concerns his case in Romania, constitutes a blatant abuse of process by the Romanian authorities,” Togias said.
“It is unprecedented for the rule of law in Greece, and in any other favoured country, for such an administrative act to annul a decision of the Greek judiciary, which has ruled definitively and irrevocably against his extradition to Romania, recognising his right to travel freely,” he added.
