Bucharest Court of Appeals extends Călin Georgescu's detention by 30 days
Bucharest Court of Appeals decided on Wednesday to maintain the preventive arrest of Călin Georgescu until 27 November 2026. DIICOT had contested the previous decision of Bucharest Tribunal.
Georgescu remains in preventive detention until 27 November, final decision
Bucharest Court of Appeals ordered on Wednesday the extension by 30 days of the preventive detention of Călin Georgescu in the fraud case, according to Cotidianul.ro. The decision, valid for the period 29 October – 27 November 2026, is final.
"Admits the appeal filed by PICCJ-DIICOT against the order issued by the judge of rights and freedoms within Bucharest Tribunal – Penal Section, which it annuls and retrying: Orders the extension of the preventive detention measure with regard to the defendants, for a period of 30 days, from 29.10.2026 until 27.11.2026, inclusive. Final", the court minutes state.
The panel included judges Andrei Buliga and Dragoș Mirea.
Tribunal initially decided judicial control; DIICOT prosecutors contested
A day earlier, Bucharest Tribunal had decided to place Georgescu under judicial control. DIICOT prosecutors immediately appealed that decision, and the arrest warrant was to expire at midnight. The Court of Appeals admitted the prosecution's appeal and rejected the defendant's.
Georgescu appeared in court accompanied by Ionel Rusen, the other defendant in the case, also arrested in the same matter. Outside, dozens of supporters chanted "Călin, we love you!", "Free him!" and "Călin Georgescu is innocent!".
The case: six million euro financing that did not materialise
The case concerns financing of six million euros which the company Real Concrete Land SRL allegedly attempted to obtain through foreign financial institutions. The company transferred, in two tranches in December 2021 and January 2022, a guarantee of 1.1 million euros. The financing did not materialise, and the guarantee was not returned in full.
On 29 September, Bucharest Court of Appeals had already ordered, in a divergence panel with three judges, preventive arrest for 30 days for both Georgescu and Rusen.
Evidence: emails, intercepted conversations and WhatsApp screenshots
The judges found that the evidence brought by the prosecutors was consolidated also by Georgescu's own contradictory statements. He claimed before the court that he did not know several of the participants in the scheme described by prosecutors, although the case contains emails and transcripts of telephone conversations that place him in direct contact with them.
Prosecutors intercepted Georgescu discussing with an interlocutor about political asylum and settling in Italy, about obtaining documents with diplomatic appearance, and also about a bank transfer of 118,000 lei effected by his father-in-law to the injured party.
A key relationship in the case is that between Georgescu and Massimiliano Arena, presented as a representative of Wealth Bank. Georgescu told the court that he did not know Arena. The case contains, however, screenshots of WhatsApp conversations, as well as two emails from 18 and 20 March 2022: the first shows that Georgescu participated in conference telephone calls with Arena and with Răzvan-Liviu Leu, the representative of the injured company; the second is an email sent by Arena to both Leu and Georgescu.
Risk of fleeing the country, invoked in the reasoning
The judges also took into account the concrete danger that Georgescu would leave Romania. The court's reasoning mentions "evidence, not merely indications" in this regard. Discussions are recorded in which Georgescu allegedly asked Rusen to identify a property in Italy, "secured", with an annex "for servants" and which would fall "under Italian law".
The court cites a passage attributed to Georgescu: "What matters is that nobody detects anything. That's what interests me most. That it doesn't happen to be discovered, that there shouldn't be any hint of any kind."
According to the reasoning, Georgescu allegedly asked Rusen to initiate steps to obtain political asylum for both himself and for the people supporting him. In the same discussions, a former prosecutor settled in Italy was mentioned, described as "a very good friend", who could have facilitated the procedure.
Source: Cotidianul.ro