The judge who wants to be president of the CSM, among the first critics of Prime Minister Bolojan / Who are the candidates for the head of the Superior Council of Magistracy

Judge Liviu Odagiu, former president of the Alba Iulia Court of Appeal and one of the first critical voices in the CSM to Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan, is running for the position of president of the Superior Council of Magistracy. The CSM plenary will meet on Thursday to vote on the new leadership. The vote overlaps with the scandal generated by the modification of magistrates' pensions, the CSM being expected these days to give an opinion on the new project of the Bolojan Government.

Bogdan Staicu, the former first prosecutor of the Prosecutor's Office of the Bucharest Court, will run for the position of vice-president of the CSM.

The information was officially confirmed by CSM representatives at the request of HotNews.

The CSM plenary will meet on Thursday to vote on the new leadership for 2026. The term of office of the president and vice president of the Superior Council of Magistrates will begin in January 2026 and will be for one year.

Now, the president is judge Elena Raluca Costache, and the vice-president of the CSM is prosecutor Claudiu Constantin Sandu.

Who is judge Liviu Odagiu, who is running for the position of president of the CSM. He accused Bolojan of spreading lies

Judge Liviu Odagiu was among the first members of the CSM to publicly react and criticize Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan on the subject of the project on magistrates' pensions. It happened in the CSM plenary at the meeting in July. Then, Odagiu accused Bolojan of “spreading lies in the public space” about the retirement age.

“I want to make a reference to the lie, to the statement that is propagated in the public space, a statement that is mentioned by the Prime Minister of Romania, such as that the average retirement age in the justice system is 48 years.

I think we should no longer accept that such statements are propagated without us answering them punctually. From the statistics carried out by our colleagues from the human resources department, from 2010 to date. it follows that the average retirement age in the justice system is not 48 years. In 2010, the average retirement age was 58 years and continued with this age until almost 2018-2019. It remained above 53 years until 2022, when it really decreased to 52 years”, said judge Odagiu in the plenary session since then.

The magistrate emphasized that in the years when the status of magistrates benefited from stability, the retirement age in the system remained high.

“In the years when the status of magistrates was continuously attacked, the retirement age decreased, but in no case did it reach the average of 48 years propagated by the prime minister. We must have the courage, I say, to say that the emperor is empty when such statements are made in the public space for the moral health of the nation. We must say out loud that the emperor is empty and that it is a matter of lies and demagoguery,” he added. judge Odagiu.

Judge Liviu Odagiu then also criticized the president Nicușor Dan for the delay in signing the decrees for the release from office of some magistrates who requested retirement.

A graduate of the Babeș-Bolyai Faculty of Law in Cluj-Napoca, Odagiu entered the judiciary in 2000, after graduating from the National Institute of Magistracy. He debuted at the Sibiu Court, where he was a judge until 2013, when he was promoted to the Alba Iulia Court of Appeal. In 2019, Liviu Odagiu was appointed president of the Alba Iulia Court of Appeal, following the competition organized by the CSM.

Liviu Odagiu owns, according to the latest wealth declaration, from 2024, two apartments in Sibiu and two cars, an Opel and a Renault. In 2023, Judge Odagiu collected 538,183 lei in annual salary from the CSM, 83,999 lei for coordinating a project and 60,926 lei in outstanding salary rights from the Alba Iulia Court of Appeal. His wife, clerk at the Prosecutor's Office of the Sibiu Court, declared 109,281 lei in salary income and outstanding rights. The Odagiu couple have savings of 500,000 lei in their accounts, but also a loan of 100,000 euros, due in 2031.

A criminal prosecutor for the position of vice president of the CSM

Graduated in Law from the University of Bucharest, Bogdan Staicu started his career as a lawyer in 2000. After six years of practicing law, he entered the judiciary. He debuted in 2006 as a prosecutor at the Prosecutor's Office attached to the Târgoviște Court, and after two years he moved to the Prosecutor's Office attached to the District 1 Bucharest Court.

In 2009, prosecutor Staicu was promoted to the Prosecutor's Office attached to the Bucharest Court, where in 2012 he became head of the Criminal Prosecution Section, and in 2018 first prosecutor, a position held until 2022, when he was elected a member of the CSM.

A native of Olt county, Bogdan Staicu owns a house and an inherited apartment in Slatina and a Toyota car, according to the latest wealth declaration. The last salary income was declared in 2024 for the previous year. The annual salary received by the prosecutor Staicu in 2023 was 393,242 lei, to which were added outstanding salary rights from the activity of the prosecutor in the amount of 81,932 and 79,381 lei per day of secondment. According to the wealth declaration, Bogdan Staicu also has state securities worth 106,246 euros and savings in the amount of 57,5434 lei.

How the leadership of the CSM is chosen

The president and vice-president of the CSM are elected from among the members of the Council with permanent activity and who have not previously held management positions.

In addition to judge Elena Raluca Costache and prosecutor Claudiu Constantin Sandu, the CSM also includes the following magistrates: Claudiu-Marian Drăgușin (judge), Alin-Vasile Ene, (judge), Narcis Erculescu (judge), Daniel Grădinaru (judge), Ramona-Graţiela Milu (judge), Gheorghe-Liviu Odagiu (judge), Mihaela-Laura Radu (judge), Denisa-Angelica Stănișor (judge), Daniel-Constantin Horodniceanu (prosecutor), Emilia Ion (prosecutor), Mărioara-Cătălina Sîntion (prosecutor), Bogdan-Silviu Staicu (prosecutor).

The CSM members appointed by civil society are the lawyer Ioan Sas and Fănel Mihalcea, former first prosecutor of the Prosecutor's Office attached to the Brăila Court. After retirement, Mihalcea was a member of the Supervisory Board of Transelectrica and a member of the Board of Directors of the National Company “Administratia Porturilor Dunării Maritime SA” Galati, according to the CV.

The legal members of the SCM are Lia Savonea, the president of the High Court of Cassation and Justice, Alex-Florin Florenta, the general prosecutor of Romania, and Radu Marinescu, the minister of justice.

The magistrates who have held leading positions in the CSM and can no longer run for a mandate are: Daniel Grădinaru, Daniel Horodniceanu, Denisa Angelica Stănișor and Emilia Ion.