PresidentialElection2024/ Prosecutor General's Office opens file on possible violations of legislation in Calin Georgescu's campaign

The Prosecutor General's Office announced on Thursday that it has taken ex-officio action "based on indications that reveal possible violations of the electoral legislation and other related criminal offences", after analysing the documents that were presented at the meeting of the Supreme Council for National Defence (CSAT) regarding the campaign of candidate Calin Georgescu."Following the declassification and analysis of the documents that were presented at the CSAT meeting of November 28, 2024 regarding the electoral process for the office of President of Romania, today, December 5, 2024, the Public Prosecutor's Office attached to the High Court of Cassation and Justice has taken ex officio action based on indications revealing possible violations of electoral legislation and of other related criminal offences. The investigation is targeting indications of electoral criminal offences that may have influenced the voting process, through methods such as corrupting voters, including online, in order to induce them to vote for a particular candidate," the Prosecutor's Office explained in a press release.The ex officio action targets, at the same time, money laundering offences in connection with possible illegalities related to the origin and use of the amounts of money used for the illegal financing of a candidate's electoral campaign by his supporters.Moreover, the file also concerns cybercrimes under the competence of the regular prosecutor's offices, following the identification of online activities that involved the creation and use of false accounts, aimed at influencing the voters' choices, actions that had the potential to affect the correct casting of votes in the electoral process.Under the same demarche, the chief prosecutor of the Directorate for Investigating Organised Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) was asked to conduct its own analysis of the existing information from the perspective of the ex officio file, in relation to the indications of the commission of crimes under the competence of the specialized prosecutor's office, according to Article 11 of GEO no.78/2016.On Thursday, CSAT declassified the information received from the SRI, SIE and the Ministry of Internal Affairs regarding the electoral campaign run by Calin Georgescu in the presidential elections.Thus, the information presented by SRI, SIE and MAI indicate that the financing of the campaign of the independent candidate Calin Georgescu on TikTok amounted to one million euros, that there were actions of a state cyber actor on the IT&C infrastructures supporting the electoral process and that Romania is a target for aggressive Russian hybrid actions.