(Bloomberg) -- Romanian prosecutors raided several properties as part of an investigation into alleged electoral irregularities a day after the country’s top court canceled a presidential runoff pitting a Russia-friendly upstart against a pro-European candidate.
Authorities searched three homes in the central city of Brasov on Saturday morning, according to a statement posted on the website of the General Prosecutor’s office.
“The searches concern the possible involvement of a natural person in the illegal financing of the electoral campaign of a candidate for the Presidency of Romania, through the use of sums of money that there are indications that they might be derived from the commission of crimes, being subsequently introduced in a money laundering process,” the prosecutor said, without naming the individual targeted.
The scrutiny of the funding and its impact on Romania’s democratic process is intensifying after the Constitutional Court ordered a rerun of the vote on Friday. That followed allegations of Russian meddling by the Supreme Defense Council, a body chaired by the president that oversees the military and intelligence agencies. It promises a fresh showdown between the political mainstream and disruptive far-right forces that have rocked the European Union member, which has become a critical linchpin on NATO’s eastern flank.
The runoff had presented voters with a choice of Calin Georgescu, a surprise newcomer who has lauded Russian President Vladimir Putin in the past, or Elena Lasconi, the leader of the reformist opposition party Save Romania Union.
Georgescu declared zero funding in official papers to the electoral commission and said he was aided by volunteers with his campaign, which was mostly driven by massive exposure on the social media platform TikTok.
The platform has in recent weeks “proactively identified and disrupted several covert influence networks, prevented and removed tens of thousands of fake accounts and engagements, and banned hundreds of accounts impersonating presidential candidates,” it said on Friday.
--With assistance from Andra Timu.
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