BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — 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. Despite being an outsider who declared zero campaign spending, Georgescu emerged as the frontrunner who was to face Lasconi in a runoff on Sunday.