A Bucharest court has granted a request by former Romanian presidential candidate Călin Georgescu and replaced his preventive measure from pre-trial detention to house arrest.
The decision was made by the same judge who in September refused to send Georgescu to pre-trial detention at the request of the Directorate for Investigating Organised Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT), Digi24 reports.
Prosecutors then appealed that decision, and the Bucharest Court of Appeal sided with them, placing the politician in custody from 29 September.
The current ruling on house arrest is also not final and does not mean Georgescu will be released immediately. DIICOT prosecutors and the defendant himself have the right to appeal the decision, so the final ruling will again rest with the Bucharest Court of Appeal. Prosecutors have already said they intend to file an appeal.
Meanwhile, law enforcement officers are continuing a computer and technical examination of electronic devices seized during searches at the Georgescu family home. The politician is suspected of €1.1 million in fraud. According to investigators, he persuaded businessman Razvan Leu to enter into a deal involving the trade in precious metals and to obtain a €6 million loan.
To arrange the loan, the businessman transferred €1 million as a guarantee, of which €100,000 was to go towards financing Georgescu’s presidential campaign. The victim was later persuaded to transfer another €100,000 in exchange for a promise to increase the loan to €15 million. In the end, the businessman never received the loan, and the guarantee funds were not returned to him.
- Georgescu, incidentally, is also involved in other criminal proceedings.
- Last year, he was formally charged with attempting to stage a coup. Prosecutors accused the politician and 21 other suspects of conspiring to undermine the democratic order after the Constitutional Court in December invalidated his victory in the presidential election. If found guilty, he faces up to 25 years in prison.
- Earlier, it emerged that Georgescu will stand trial in Romania for promoting fascism