Călin Georgescu, a former presidential candidate who won the first round of Romania's 2024 election, was detained in Romania on suspicion of fraud involving €1.1 million. He was detained on the morning of Monday, September 21, while driving to a swimming pool, according to infohub.kz.
Romanian media report that the fraud case also has a Russian connection. Police took Georgescu home for a search. In total, searches are being conducted at five properties he owns.
According to a press release from the Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT), in 2021 two Romanian citizens and one Italian formed a criminal group. They offered Romanian businessmen loans worth millions of euros, but required a cash deposit as a condition. The victim first transferred €1 million to the fraudsters, hoping to receive a €6 million loan, and then another €100,000 when they proposed increasing the loan to €15 million.
DIICOT did not name the suspects or the victim, noting that the group was led by a 64-year-old Romanian. According to local media, besides Georgescu, those involved in the case are 47-year-old Romanian businessman Ionel Rusen and 56-year-old Italian Massimiliano Arena. The victim is Romanian businessman Răzvan Leu.
As reported by G4Media and Euronews Romania, during the searches police found a signal jammer and a fake ID card of the Order of Malta in the name of "Senator" Călin Georgescu. The Order of Malta's ambassador to Romania, Roberto Musneci, told G4Media that Georgescu does not belong to the order.
According to sources cited by G4Media and Digi24, the case involves Migom Bank, a bank registered in Dominica that formally belonged to Swiss citizen Thomas Schaetti but was controlled by Russian citizens. It was to this bank that Leu transferred €1.1 million. In particular, Digi24 writes, Schaetti was linked to Russian businessman Andrey Kochetkov.
Leu issued a statement confirming that in January 2024 he filed a criminal complaint that formed the basis of DIICOT's investigation. "I did this for one reason: I lost more than a million euros I earned through hard work because of promises of financing that never materialized. For several years I tried to get the money back amicably, but I did not succeed," he said.
The businessman stressed that he had no political motives. "Like me, millions of Romanians — as you have seen — trusted Călin Georgescu. I fully believed in Călin Georgescu and his words. Unfortunately, it all turned out to be a fraudulent scheme, a deception," Leu added.
Several hundred supporters of the former presidential candidate gathered outside the DIICOT building in Bucharest, where Georgescu was brought for questioning after the searches. The fraud case is not the first criminal case against Georgescu. He has already been charged with attempting to organize a coup in 2024.
Călin Georgescu unexpectedly won the first round of the presidential election in November 2024. Romania's Constitutional Court, however, annulled the vote results due to "Russian interference" and barred Georgescu from the repeat election (won by Nicușor Dan in May 2025).