Image credit: Arek Socha (Pixabay)
Businessman Beny Steinmetz and communications consultant Tal Silberstein have been convicted in the Romanian Supreme Court to five years imprisonment. Earlier both were acquitted on all charges in the lower court.
Beny Steinmetz, a partner and advisor to an entity that held shares in a company which had bought restitution rights in land from a prince of the Romanian royal house. The Israeli billionaire is accused of being party to allegedly corrupt actions to recover land; money laundering offences and conspiracy to commit a crime.
Steinmetz, with a portfolio in diamond-mining and real estate, intends to appeal to higher European instances and have the proceeding annulled.
Diamond tycoon Beny Steinmetz is the owner of BSGR, an embattled mining company with a presence in Guinea and Sierra Leone. BSGR is reported to be under investigation in several countries, including the U.S. for violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. The company, however, denies the claims.
Aruna Gaitonde, Editor in Chief of the Asian Bureau, Rough&Polished
