Beny Steinmetz Sentenced to Five Years

RAPAPORT... Romania's Supreme Court has sentenced mining magnate Beny Steinmetz to five years' imprisonment in a land-fraud case, according to Israeli media.The businessman, who has counted diamond mines among his vast interests, was accused of being involved in corruption carried out by a company for which he was a partner and adviser, Globes reported last week.Following the fall of Communism in Romania, the European country allowed people to reclaim land they had owned in the 1940s. Steinmetz was party to corrupt actions by the company to recover land, and was accused of money-laundering offenses and conspiracy to commit a crime, according to allegations that Globes reported.Steinmetz, who had previously been acquitted on all charges in a lower court, can appeal to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, the newspaper continued. His lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but he told Globes the proceedings were "conducted contrary to law and to the principles of justice, and we intend to appeal to higher European courts."Image: Beny Steinmetz. (Avimagen777)