Update: Nicusor Dan said on Friday morning, May 2, that he filed a criminal complaint against Elena Lasconi, accusing her of three crimes: alteration of computer content, computer forgery, and fraud. Addressing the journalists, he again denied the alleged meeting with former SRI official Florian Coldea.

"I did not meet Florian Coldea, I did not meet Victor Ponta. Where are the state institutions regarding a very serious accusation against a candidate in the presidential elections? I filed a criminal complaint for some untrue facts. Anyone who wants to accuse me of anything should come and provide evidence," Dan said, as quoted by Euronews Romania.

Initial story: A major scandal emerged in Romania shortly before the first round of the presidential elections on May 4. Presidential candidate Elena Lasconi, the leader of the reformist party USR, shared on May 1 pictures allegedly demonstrating compromising meetings held in December 2024 by her rivals Nicusor Dan (independent, Bucharest mayor) and Victor Ponta (independent, former Social Democrat prime minister) with a controversial former intelligence official - former deputy head of the intelligence services SRI Florian Coldea. 

Based on all information available and without further details provided by the USR leader, various voices had said that Lasconi published the pictures likely forged and originating from the ruling coalition without proper verification of the source – thus involuntarily serving the interest of Crin Antonescu (the presidential candidate of the ruling PSD-PNL-UDMR alliance). 

Nicusor Dan is Antonescu's main rival for the second round of the presidential elections (against the frontrunner George Simion), while Victor Ponta is cannibalising Antonescu's electorate given the influence he still holds over the local organisations of the Social Democratic Party (PSD). 

Both Nicusor Dan, who held a press conference to address the accusations, and Victor Ponta have denied that such a meeting took place and announced that they would press charges against Lasconi, according to G4media.ro.

Elena Lasconi said she had received the pictures several days before she published them, from an individual claiming to be a paparazzo and one of her supporters.

In an interview with Europa FM, Lasconi stated that she received the photos by email and wanted "to check if Nicusor Dan would publicly admit the existence of the meeting." She asked Dan about the meeting with Coldea during an electoral talk show this week.

Lasconi claimed that former prime minister Victor Ponta also appears in the images, suggesting that the meeting could have been related to a political agreement regarding Nicusor Dan's candidacy.

"And Mr. Ponta. I think it was the arrangement for the candidacy," Elena Lasconi said.

Florian Coldea is currently being probed in a corruption scandal. No longer in service, he is still publicly seen as an epitome of the intelligence services' interference with politics or the "deep state."

iulian@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Inquam Photos/Octav Ganea, George Calin)