Romanian prosecutors conduct raids linked to funding of Georgescu's campaign

BUCHAREST, Romania -- Romanian prosecutors conducted raids on Saturday linked to a man suspected of illegally financing a campaign to promote Calin Georgescu’s presidential run, a day after the country’s top court annulled the elections in which the far-right candidate had won the first round.

The raids at three properties in the central city of Brasov were based on suspicions of voter corruption, money laundering and cyber fraud, prosecutors said, and that the funds are suspected of originating from criminal activities.

The searches come after the Constitutional Court made the unprecedented decision on Friday to cancel the presidential elections, after a trove of declassified intelligence on Wednesday alleged Russia organized a sprawling campaign across platforms such as TikTok and Telegram to promote Calin Georgescu.

An official in the prosecutor’s office, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the case is ongoing, told The Associated Press that the searches on Saturday were conducted at properties linked to Bogdan Peschir. Intelligence alleged Peschir was a key player behind a massive TikTok campaign that promoted Georgescu.

The secret services alleged that Peschir paid $381,000 (361,000 euros) to TikTok users to promote Georgescu content on the Chinese-owned platform. Intelligence authorities said information they obtained “revealed an aggressive promotion campaign” to increase and accelerate Georgescu’s popularity.

“The charge is money laundering in connection with Georgescu’s financing,” the official said. He added Peschir will be brought to the capital Bucharest for questioning.

There is no clear link between Peschir and alleged Russian interference. Russia denies it meddling in Romania.

The court’s published decision to annul the elections cited the illegal use of digital technologies including artificial intelligence, as well as the use of “undeclared sources of funding.”

Without naming Georgescu, the court said one of the 13 candidates in the Nov. 24 first round had improperly received “preferential treatment” on social media, which distorted the outcome of the vote.

Georgescu also denounced the court’s Friday verdict as an “officialized coup” and an attack on democracy.

Despite being an outsider who declared zero campaign spending, Georgescu emerged as the frontrunner on Nov. 24. He was due to face reformist Elena Lasconi of the Save Romania Union party in a runoff on Sunday.

Thirteen candidates ran in the first round presidential vote in this European Union and NATO member country, and has been gripped by myriad controversies since the first round. New dates will be set to rerun the presidential vote from scratch.

In a televised statement Friday, President Klaus Iohannis said he was “deeply concerned” by the contents of the intelligence reports, which indicated one candidate’s campaign was “unlawfully supported from outside Romania” and was a matter of national security.

“The same candidate declared zero campaign expenditures, despite running a highly sophisticated campaign,” he said. “Intelligence reports revealed that this candidate’s campaign was supported by a foreign state with interests contrary to Romania’s.”

Lasconi strongly condemned the court’s decision, saying it was “illegal, immoral, and crushes the very essence of democracy” and that the second round should have gone forward.

After Georgescu topped the polls in the first round, his success left many political observers wondering how most local surveys had placed him behind at least five other candidates before the vote.

Many observers attributed his success to his TikTok account, which now has 6 million likes and 541,000 followers. But some experts suspected Georgescu’s online following was artificially inflated while Romania’s top security body alleged he was given preferential treatment by TikTok over other candidates.

In a separate case on Saturday, prosecutors raided nine other properties in six counties investigating alleged extremists groups accused of “promoting violence or hatred against individuals based on their ethnicity, sexual orientation, or political opinions” related to the elections.

Prosecutors said they were investigating messages inciting violence against a presidential election candidate or their supporters, and the promotion of fascist, racist, or xenophobic ideologies.