An appeals court in Nicosia on Friday decided to refuse to extradite Israeli mining magnate Benjamin Steinmetz to Romania, thus overturning a lower court’s October 11 decision, Reuters reported, citing Agerpres.

Steinmetz was arrested in Cyprus in late August on a warrant issued by Romania in a land rights case. He denies any wrongdoing.

The decision of the Cypriot court was unanimous and provides for the immediate release of Steinmetz.

A few years ago, Beni Steinmetz was at the center of a case related to his involvement in a group that tried to illegally obtain land rights in Romania, Reuters notes. Steinmetz claims that the legal action against him in Romania is politically motivated and that he would be deprived of the right to a fair trial, writes Reuters, recalling that the mandate issued by Romania has also been rejected by Greece and Italy.

“Another court of a European state sends a decisive response to those who grossly violate human rights and brutally disregard any concept of the rule of law. I am very pleased that I can finally return to my country at such a critical moment for Israel,” Beni Steinmetz responded to the statement released by the spokesman.

• Court victory in Greece for billionaire Benjamin Steinmetz, convicted in absentia in Romania in the Ferma Băneasa case
• Billionaire Benjamin Steinmetz, convicted in absentia in Romania in the Ferma Băneasa case and prosecuted, detained in Cyprus / What the Romanian police say
• The court in Cyprus decided to extradite billionaire Benjamin Steinmetz, who was finally convicted in the Ferma Băneasa case / The decision is not final

Who is Benny Steinmetz?

In December 2020, Israeli tycoon Benjamin Steinmetz (age 65) was finally sentenced in absentia by the Supreme Court to 5 years in prison with execution in the case of the illegal return of the Royal Farm from Benyasa and Snagov forest. Then the Romanian police started an international investigation.

In January 2021, seven years after the investigation began, a Swiss court sentenced Beni Steinmetz (64) to five years in prison with the death penalty for bribing public officials in Guinea in a mining license case. He was also ordered to pay compensatory payments (a form of compensation) of 50 million Swiss francs (46 million) to the Swiss state. However, the decision is not final.

The non-governmental organization Public Eye, which in 2013 published a highly complex organizational chart of Benny Steinmetz’s group, said the file was “a symbol of predatory practices in the mining sector” and was “a real dive into the mechanisms of international corruption, with Guinea as a backdrop, one of the poorest countries of the world”.

A Geneva court heard allegations that $10 million (€8.2 million) in bribes were paid through Swiss accounts to senior officials in Guinea to grant the Benny Steinmetz Group (BSGR) mining rights in the south of the very poor West African country. despite the abundance of natural resources.

Benjamin Steinmetz made his fortune in the diamond industry in Antwerp, Belgium, between 1970 and 1997 before returning to Israel, where he founded BSGR, a group focused on natural resources and real estate investments.