Romania Probes Far-Right Former Presidential Candidate Georgescu for Fraud

Calin Georgescu at the Municipal Court in Bucharest, December 2025. Photo: EPA/ROBERT GHEMENT. Romanian police on Monday detained far-right politician Calin Georgescu and anti-fraud investigators searched his home and other locations as part of an investigation in which he faces charges of defrauding a Romanian businessman of more than 1 million euros, according to judicial authorities. “We carried out five residential searches … in a case in which three people acted with the aim of obtaining undue financial benefits,” said Romania’s Directorate for Investigating Organised Crime and Terrorism, DIICOT. Prosecutors allege that from September 2021, a group allegedly led by Georgescu convinced the businessman that he could obtain a loan of 6 million euros in exchange for providing a guarantee. The victim then allegedly transferred some 1 million euros. Subsequently, the suspects allegedly told him that the loan could be increased to 15 million euro, but an additional guarantee was required, after which the businessman allegedly transferred another 100,000 euros. The promised loan never materialised. Georgescu has not issued any statement on this issue but he has previously claimed he was being investigated by the authorities because of his political activities. His political ally, George Simion, who heads the far-right Alliance for the Unity of Romanians, AUR, condemned the move. “Any of us could be next. Stop the abuses! Romania is a dictatorship!” he wrote on Facebook. Hundreds of Georgescu’s supporters gathered outside DIICOT headquarters, where he and other people were to arrive for questioning. Authorities have installed protective barriers and deployed gendarmerie units in the area. This would be the third criminal case against Georgescu. He is already under investigation for endorsing fascist ideas in interviews, online posts and public appearances and also faces trial for complicity to undermine the constitutional order, spreading false information and founding an anti-Semitic organisation. He denies all the charges. After he unexpectedly won the first round of the Romanian presidential elections in November 2024, the Constitutional Court ordered a rerun of the vote, citing alleged manipulation of public opinion by a “foreign state”, likely referring to Russia. Georgescu was banned from participating in the re-run in May 2025, which was ultimately won by centrist Nicusor Dan.