Former Romanian presidential candidate arrested

Former Romanian presidential candidate detained

Călin Georgescu, a former candidate in Romania's 2024 presidential election who won the first round, has been detained.

According to reports, Georgescu was detained on suspicion of involvement in a 1.1 million euro fraud case. In 2024, Romania's Constitutional Court annulled the results of the election in which he participated due to suspicions of Russian interference. Romanian media reports that Russia is also involved in the fraud case.

According to Antena3 CNN, Georgescu was detained on the morning of September 21 while driving his car to a swimming pool.

Police officers took him to his home to conduct a search. Searches related to Georgescu's case are being conducted at five properties belonging to him. According to a statement by the Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT), in 2021, two Romanian citizens and an Italian national formed a criminal group. They offered Romanian businessmen loans worth millions of euros, but demanded collateral in return.

Hoping to secure a 6 million euro loan, the victim first transferred 1 million euros to the fraudsters, and later another 100,000 euros after an offer to increase the loan amount to 15 million euros. DIICOT did not disclose the names of the suspects or the victim. It was noted that the leader of the group is a 64-year-old Romanian.

According to local media, in addition to Georgescu, 47-year-old Romanian businessman Ionel Rusen and 56-year-old Italian Massimiliano Arena were also involved in the case. The victim is reported to be Romanian businessman Răzvan Leu.

According to G4Media and Euronews Romania, during the search, police found a signal jamming device and a forged ID card of the Order of Malta issued in the name of Călin Georgescu. The document identified Georgescu as a senator. However, Roberto Musneci, the Ambassador of the Order of Malta to Romania, stated that Georgescu is not a member of the order.

According to sources from G4Media and Digi24, the investigation also mentions Migom Bank, registered in Dominica. In documents, the bank belonged to Swiss citizen Thomas Schetty, but in practice, it was controlled by Russian citizens. Leu issued a statement confirming that he filed the complaint in January 2024 which served as the basis for the DIICOT investigation.

"I did this for one reason: I lost over a million euros of hard-earned money due to promises of financing that never materialized. For several years, I tried to recover the money peacefully, but I did not succeed," he said.

The businessman emphasized that there were no political motives behind his actions.

"Millions of Romanians like me, as you have seen, believed in Călin Georgescu. I fully trusted Călin Georgescu and his words. Unfortunately, all of this turned out to be a fraudulent scheme, a deception," Leu added.

Several hundred supporters of the former presidential candidate gathered in front of the DIICOT building in Bucharest. The fraud case is not the first criminal case against Georgescu. He was previously accused of attempting to organize a coup d'état. Călin Georgescu unexpectedly won the first round of the presidential election held in November 2024. However, Romania's Constitutional Court annulled the voting results due to "Russian interference" and did not allow Georgescu to run in the election again.