Prosecutors and police officers are conducting three house searches in the city of Braşov on Saturday morning, targeting Bogdan Peşchir, the one who financed Călin Georgescu’s campaign on TikTok with one million euros, judicial sources told Agerpres. During the searches, investigators discovered cryptocurrencies worth $7 million, in the name of Bogdan Peșchir.
At the same time, the Public Ministry announced this evening that it has ordered judicial control of five defendants, investigated in five criminal cases.
According to a statement from the Prosecutor’s Office, investigations are being conducted in the case in terms of committing the crimes of voter corruption, money laundering, computer fraud and the crime provided for in art. 5 of OUG no. 31/2002 regarding the prohibition of organizations and symbols of a fascist, racist or xenophobic nature.
According to the documents presented by SRI to CSAT, Bogdan Peşchir used the “bogpr” account, through which he made donations on TikTok of over one million euros.
After becoming a subject of public debate, the involvement of “bogpr” in financing the promotion of Călin Georgescu on the platform was confirmed by TikTok representatives in the dialogue with the Romanian authorities on November 28, 2024, SRI shows.
TikTok representatives confirmed the identity of the user “bogpr” and mentioned that he made payments worth $381,000, between October 24 and November 24, 2024, to users of TikTok accounts involved in the promotion of Călin Georgescu, including after the end of the electoral campaign, SRI points out.
SRI shows that the financing of TikTok influencers was ensured through the FameUp platform (dedicated to the monetization of promotional activities in the online environment), on which the advertising opportunity was published, along with well-defined descriptions.
“One of the methods of attracting Romanian influencers to collaborate in promoting Călin Georgescu’s candidacy was contacting them by email by the company (…), of South African origin, which offered the sum of 1,000 euros for distributing a video clip made by them,” the SRI also claims.
“I think the amounts are correct, but the respective report (the declassified SRI report, ed.) has language that leaves room for interpretations and even misinforms, suggesting that my donations were only to supporters of a candidate, and in addition, it does not mention the period when most of the total amount was donated. Long before the elections,” Peșchir retorted.
He also claims that the accusations brought by the authorities represent “disinformation.” “I did not finance a campaign, I made donations to TikTok accounts of all kinds without asking them for any favors or conditioning these donations on their political orientation. And when certain accounts proposed to me to donate to support someone, I told them very clearly that I did not want to do such a thing, that everyone must voluntarily support whoever they want!”, he said.
The Public Ministry announced this evening that it has ordered judicial control of five defendants, investigated in five criminal cases.
“During today, home searches and hearings were carried out in cases in which investigations are being carried out in terms of the commission of crimes of threat, incitement to violence, hatred or discrimination, failure to comply with the weapons and ammunition regime, the act of a person to publicly promote the cult of persons guilty of committing crimes of genocide against humanity and war crimes, the act of publicly promoting fascist, legionary, racist or xenophobic ideas, concepts or doctrines, as provided for in art. 5 of OUG no. 31/2002,” the Public Ministry said. “The searches targeted illegal behaviors manifested on several online platforms and which can be divided into two categories: messages that incite violence against a candidate in the presidential elections or against those who support a particular candidate and messages that promote fascist, legionary, racist or xenophobic concepts or doctrines, such as hatred and violence on ethnic, racial or religious grounds,” according to prosecutors.
Meanwhile, since the announcement of the searches this morning carried out in Brașov in search of evidence regarding the illegal financing of Călin Georgescu’s campaign, influencers who supported sovereignist representatives or formations and whose names appear in the intelligence documents declassified by Klaus Iohannis on Wednesday, have admitted online that they were paid by Micula Jr and stated that they are willing to provide the authorities with information about the financing of electoral campaigns. They also stated that they are leaving the country, G4 Media reports.
Also, several searches are taking place on Saturday morning in the municipality of Bucharest and several counties in the country – Ilfov, Neamţ, Maramureş, Timiş and Sălaj – in files targeting crimes of promoting fascist, racist or xenophobic ideology, incitement to hatred or discrimination, failure to comply with the weapons and ammunition regime. The descents are related to the tribute ceremony of the legionary leader Corneliu Zelea Codreanu in the Tâncăbești forest.