Călin Georgescu placed in 24-hour custody as prosecutors seek 30-day arrest

Former presidential candidate Călin Georgescu spent the night in Bucharest’s central police detention facility after organised-crime prosecutors placed him under 24-hour custody on Monday evening and said they would ask a judge to keep him in preventive arrest for 30 days.

Georgescu was taken out of DIICOT headquarters in handcuffs shortly after 18:45 local time. He raised both arms above his head to show the cuffs to supporters gathered behind police barriers. Businessman Ionel Rusen, also named in the file, was detained on the same charges.

Călin Georgescu detained in €1.1 million fraud probe

The 24-hour measure follows Monday morning’s operation, when officers stopped Georgescu in traffic near Otopeni and escorted him to his home in Mogoșoaia while five search warrants were executed in Bucharest, Mogoșoaia, Ciolpani and Buftea. After searches lasting about nine hours he was taken to DIICOT for questioning. Judicial sources said he exercised his right to remain silent.

DIICOT said two Romanian citizens, aged 64 and 47, had been placed in detention for forming an organised criminal group and aggravated fraud in continued form. Prosecutors will present both men to a rights-and-liberties judge at the Bucharest Tribunal, who will decide whether to grant 30-day preventive arrest, judicial control, or another measure.

During the searches investigators seized jamming devices, documents, data-storage equipment and identity papers – two passports and a badge – that they said would be examined because of suspected forgery. These remain allegations. No conviction has been issued.

The fraud file

Prosecutors allege that in September 2021 three men – two Romanians and an Italian aged 56 – formed a group that presented itself as wealthy foreign investors able to arrange large bank loans. Businessman Răzvan Leu, from Buzău county, transferred more than €1.1 million as a guarantee for a promised credit of €6 million that never materialised. The group later allegedly sought a further €100,000 after saying the loan could be raised to €15 million.

Romanian media have reported that investigators are also looking at additional transfers involving Russian citizens and at whether part of the money was used in Georgescu’s 2024 campaign. His wife, Cristela, and Italian businessman Massimiliano Arena have been mentioned in connection with the file. All of this remains under investigation.

From soil scientist to political experiment

Georgescu was born on 26 March 1962 in Bucharest’s Cotroceni district. He graduated from the Nicolae Bălcescu Institute of Agronomy in 1986 and earned a doctorate in pedology in 1999. After early work as a land-improvement engineer, he held posts in Romania’s Environment Ministry in the 1990s, later serving as a Romanian representative to the UN Environment Programme, UN Special Rapporteur on the human-rights effects of hazardous waste (2010–2012), president of the European Research Centre for the Club of Rome (2013–2015), and executive director of the UN Global Sustainable Index Institute. He has described himself as an expert in sustainable development.

He was briefly associated with the Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR) before leaving in 2022 amid internal disputes. Running as an independent in the 2024 presidential election, he finished first in the November first round with about 23 percent of the vote. His campaign relied heavily on TikTok.

The 2024 election and its aftermath

Days after the first-round result, Romania’s Supreme Council of National Defence declassified intelligence reports describing what it called an “aggressive hybrid Russian action.” The documents alleged coordinated TikTok promotion, thousands of newly activated accounts, and cyberattacks on electoral infrastructure. On 6 December 2024 the Constitutional Court annulled the entire first-round vote. Georgescu called the decision a “coup.” He was later barred from the rerun. Nicușor Dan was eventually elected president.

Georgescu has praised Vladimir Putin as “a man who loves his country,” described Ukraine as an “invented state,” and said he would end Romanian military and political support for Kyiv. He has criticised NATO’s missile-defence site in Romania and argued that security comes from dialogue with Russia rather than confrontation. Critics have labelled him far-right, ultranationalist and pro-Russian; he has rejected those characterisations.

Other pending cases

Georgescu is already on trial in two other criminal files. One accuses him of complicity in an attempt to turn post-annulment protests in Bucharest violent, together with former mercenary commander Horațiu Potra. The second concerns alleged public promotion of legionary and fascist ideas. Both cases were already before the courts when Monday’s searches took place. He has denied wrongdoing and described earlier investigations as politically motivated.

AUR leader George Simion reacted to Monday’s operation by calling Romania “a dictatorship.” Supporters gathered outside DIICOT as Georgescu was questioned, chanting his name behind gendarme lines.

The immediate legal question is no longer whether prosecutors would seek a formal custody measure. It is whether the Bucharest Tribunal will convert Monday night’s 24-hour detention into a 30-day preventive arrest. A ruling is expected later on Tuesday.

Caption: Supporters of Calin Georgescu, the independent candidate who won the first round of Romania’s 2024 annulled presidential election, protest in front of the DIICOT headquarters, in Bucharest, Romania, 21 September 2026. After anti-corruption prosecutors conducted a nine-hour search at Calin Georgescu’s residence in Mogosoaa village, he was brought under escort to DIICOT headquarters for questioning. He is being investigated alongside four alleged accomplices over suspected criminal group formation and a fraud scheme causing an estimated 1.1 million euros in damages. EPA/ROBERT GHEMENT