New allegations emerged in Romania on Monday against the far-right former presidential candidate Călin Georgescu.
He has been detained for an initial period of 24 hours over accusations that he defrauded €1.1 million ($1.26 million), together with two other suspects, using the money to finance his election campaign.
Georgescu, seen as pro-Kremlin, unexpectedly came top in Romania’s 2024 presidential election. The Constitutional Court annulled the election over his opaque campaign funding had been opaque and the vote was repeated in 2025.
Georgescu’s home was searched by prosecutors for nine hours, after which the suspect was taken for questioning.
DIICOT, the special unit of the Public Prosecutor’s Office responsible for organized crime and terrorism, provided details of its operation in a press release, without naming Georgescu or his two accomplices.
Numerous Romanian TV channels showed Georgescu being led away by masked police officers from his villa in the Bucharest suburb of Mogosoaia.
The fraud allegedly saw the accused and his accomplices promise a businessman in 2021 that they would arrange a loan from a foreign bank.
In return, they demanded a guarantee of €1.1 million from the businessman, which DIICOT said he paid but did not receive back.
The investigation began in 2024, following a complaint by the victim, according to Romanian media reports.
Georgescu is due to stand trial for an attempted armed coup d’état, which he is alleged to have planned together with a mercenary formerly active in Africa.
Nevertheless, he continues to be supported by Romania’s far-right party AUR, the second-strongest force in parliament.