Israeli businessman Benyamin (Beny) Steinmetz has been ordered by a court in Cyprus to be extradited to Romania, where he has to serve a five-year jail sentence, Romanian Minister of Justice Alina Gorghiu announced.
The ruling is not final, Romania Insider reported.
"The lawyers of this fugitive businessman have three days to file an appeal, but you must know that he [Steinmetz] was convicted in December 2020 in the Băneasa Farm case. He has to serve a five-year prison sentence for committing the crime of forming an organized criminal group," the minister said.
An Athens court rejected an extradition request by Romanian authorities in March 2022, ruling that Steinmetz's right to a fair trial in Romania was violated and that he is at real risk of inhuman and degrading treatment if extradited
Beny Steinmetz and Tal Silberstein (who politically advised several political leaders, such as former prime ministers Călin Popescu Tăriceanu and Adrian Năstase), were definitively sentenced to five years in prison in the Băneasa Farm case.
The case refers to the illegal restitution to Paul of Romania (Paul Lambrino) of the former royal farm in Băneasa and an area in the Snagov Forest.
With a focus in the mining, energy, real estate and diamond-mining industries, the Israeli has been convicted of corrupt and illegal business practices in multiple countries.
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