Israeli billionaire arrested in fraud probe

Israeli police arrested five people, including Israeli diamond mogul Beny Steinmetz, on Monday on suspicion of producing fictitious contracts and transactions for the purpose of money laundering.

The police said in a statement that the investigation involved real estate transactions in a foreign country, but did not provide further details. Along with Steinmetz, Tal Silberstein, an Israeli political advisor who works for the Austrian chancellor, was arrested.

Steinmetz, among Israel's wealthiest businessmen, was arrested in December as part of an investigation into alleged bribes issued by Steinmetz's firm, BSGR, to acquire an iron ore deposit in the west African state of Guinea. He was later released to two weeks of house arrest.

The remands of Steinmetz and Silberstein were extended by four days in court on Monday. During his remand hearing, the billionaire denied the accusations against him, accusing Hungarian-American billionaire George Soros of funding a political persecution campaign against him, local media reported.

David Granot, the acting chairman of the Israeli telecom giant Bezeq, was also detained by police along with two other suspects, local media reported. They were released on Monday.

The suspects' homes and offices were raided by police Monday morning.

The Social Democratic Party of Austria fired Silberstein following his arrest.

"We have parted with an adviser who had played a very important role in the team of Chancellor Christian Kern for a long time," the party said in a statement.