Greece arrests Israeli billionaire for corruption in Romania – POLITICO

“The public prosecutor’s office was informed and thus the police were also alerted and made the arrest. However, he was released on bail on Monday with certain restrictions,” the official added, meaning Steinmetz cannot leave Greece while awaiting a court decision.

The arrest is the latest twist in a years-long legal saga involving Steinmetz, who was convicted in 2020 by Romania’s highest court of participating in a plot to illegally claim ownership of land that once belonged to the monarchy deceased from the country.

But Greece and Cyprus refused to extradite him to Romania, citing the country’s inhumane detention conditions, and Interpol canceled his arrest warrant. His co-defendants, including Romanian Prince Paul, also successfully challenged Romanian extradition requests to 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 flagrant abuse of procedure by the Romanian authorities,” Togias said.

“It is unprecedented for the rule of law in Greece, and in any other favored country, that such an administrative act annuls a decision of the Greek justice, which ruled definitively and irrevocably against his extradition to Romania, recognizing his right to travel. freely,” he added.