Bucharest Tribunal rules against extending Călin Georgescu’s arrest

The Bucharest Tribunal rejected DIICOT prosecutors’ request to extend Călin Georgescu’s pretrial detention by another 30 days. The court instead ordered his placement under judicial supervision for 60 days from the date the ruling becomes final, according to Euronews Romania.

Monday’s decision is not final and can be challenged by the organized crime prosecution unit DIICOT.

Călin Georgescu, who surprisingly won the first round of the 2024 presidential elections, will remain in Bucharest’s Central Detention Center pending a final ruling. His current detention warrant expires on October 29.

Georgescu has been in pretrial detention since September 29 in a case in which he is accused of defrauding businessman Răzvan Leu of EUR 1.1 million in connection with a proposed precious-metals transaction.

The Bucharest Tribunal previously approved Cǎlin Georgescu’s transfer to house arrest on October 13. However, DIICOT challenged that decision, and the Bucharest Court of Appeal definitively ruled on October 23 that he should remain in pretrial detention.

After his arrest, Georgescu also became the subject of two additional criminal cases, Agerpres reported.

On October 21, DIICOT charged him over allegations that he asked a man to scan his villa in Mogoșoaia to determine whether investigators had installed recording devices inside the property.

The following day, Georgescu was questioned at the Central Detention Center in a separate case opened by prosecutors attached to the Buftea District Court. He is accused of making a Legionary salute while leaving a church in Buftea on October 7, when he was under judicial supervision.

In the EUR 1.1 million fraud case, documents showed that Răzvan Leu was asked to provide a EUR 1 million guarantee to obtain a EUR 6 million credit line. Prosecutors allege that EUR 100,000 of the amount was intended to finance Georgescu’s presidential campaign.

The businessman was later persuaded to transfer another EUR 100,000 after being told the credit line could be increased to EUR 15 million. The loan was never obtained, and Leu allegedly did not recover the total EUR 1.1 million.

Cǎlin Georgescu finished first in the opening round of Romania’s 2024 presidential election, which was subsequently annulled by the Constitutional Court.