Fabulous incomes for retired judges and prosecutors in the Romanian Justice system returning as public officials. Cases of pension-salary combinations of tens of thousands of euros per month

Several special pensioners from the Romanian Justice system—former police officers, judges, and prosecutors, some aged between 50 and 55—have returned to the workforce to be appointed or elected to leadership/representative positions in the public system, with their combined pension and salary in some cases reaching over €10,000 per month. This information comes from their asset declarations submitted last month on the National Integrity Agency’s website. Over time, many of these individuals have been surrounded by controversies related to their professional careers.

Silviu Gabriel Barbu (53 years old) was a judge until 2020. After retiring, he was appointed State Secretary—head of the Prime Minister’s Control Corps by former Prime Minister Florin Cîțu. Since January 2024, he has been the president of the National Authority for Citizenship. In 2019, as a judge at the Bucharest Court of Appeal, he rejected a request from the Ministry of National Defense contesting the extension of Nicolae Ciucă’s (current president of PNL, a political party) appointment as Chief of the General Staff of the Army by President Klaus Iohannis. Barbu is a graduate of a course from the National College of Information within the Romanian Intelligence Service’s National Intelligence Academy.

His asset declaration for last year shows that as head of the Control Corps, he earned 116,995 lei (about 9,800 lei monthly), and as a pensioner, he received 273,318 lei (almost 23,000 lei monthly).

Mariana Alexandru, a former senior prosecutor at the DNA (National Anticorruption Directorate), retired in 2014. The press reported that she had previously annulled the indictment in the Gala Bute case, which initially had only one person sent to trial. After investigations resumed, several people were charged and sent to trial, including Elena Udrea (a former Romanian politician). Currently, Alexandru is the head of a department at DIICOT (Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism) Central Structure, earning 291,432 lei net last year (24,300 lei monthly). She reported receiving a pension from the National House of Public Pensions of 338,287 lei (28,200 lei monthly), a service pension of 269,096 lei (22,400 lei monthly), and pension differences of 336,474 lei.

Gheorghe Cornescu was a deputy chief military prosecutor at the Prosecutor’s Office attached to the High Court of Cassation and Justice. After retiring, he returned as a prosecutor at the Special Section for Investigating Crimes Committed by Magistrates. The press reported that several years ago, the National Council for the Study of the Securitate Archives filed a case at the Bucharest Court of Appeal seeking to establish his status as a collaborator of the former political police. A Constitutional Court decision on the Council’s functioning led to the case’s dismissal. In May of this year, Cornescu dismissed a criminal case involving Judge Bogdan Mateescu (former president of the Superior Council of Magistracy) and his father, currently the PNL mayor of Govora. As a prosecutor at the Special Section and from lawsuits related to salary claims from his first term as a magistrate, he earned 310,239 lei in 2023, with a pension of 424,632 lei (totaling about 61,000 lei monthly).

Nelu Ciobanu (57 years old) and George Cătălin Șerban (52 years old) are State Secretaries in the Ministry of Justice (MJ). Ciobanu was a prosecutor, while Șerban was a judge. G4Media.ro revealed that Șerban, whose wealth was estimated at millions of euros, had served as president of the Călărași Tribunal, the stronghold of PNL vice-president Iulian Dumitrescu, who is currently under investigation for bribery.

In 2023, Ciobanu earned 104,897 lei from the MJ and 1.17 million lei from „pension rights, including rights granted by court decisions.” He also mentioned winning 75 lei from a scratch-off ticket. Șerban received 142,194 lei from the MJ, salary arrears from his judicial activity of 51,002 lei, and a pension of 355,259 lei (almost 30,000 lei monthly).

Florin Bălăceanu is an advisor to the Minister of Justice, earning 85,994 lei in 2023, and as a pensioner from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, he received 150,000 lei. Previously, he combined his pension with his income as an advisor at the Superior Council of Magistracy.

Gheorghe Stanciu was the chief prosecutor of DIICOT Vrancea, then chief military prosecutor of the Judicial Cooperation and Forensic Service at the Military Prosecutor’s Section of the Prosecutor’s Office attached to the High Court of Cassation and Justice. He retired in May 2023 and was re-employed as a prosecutor at the Prosecutor’s Office attached to the Vrancea Tribunal in October of the same year. In 2023, before retiring, he earned 217,480 lei as a prosecutor and 211,125 lei as a pensioner. In February 2024, he was seconded for three years to the Minister of Justice’s Control Corps.

Former constitutional judges Toni Greblă and Simona Maya Teodoroiu received, in 2023, pensions from the Constitutional Court of 320,268 lei and 383,912 lei, respectively. Currently, the president of the Permanent Electoral Authority (earning 262,260 lei in salary and per diem last year; his term started in March), Greblă receives several pensions: as a former senator (49,740 lei) and as a former lawyer (18,384 lei). Tedoroiu is a deputy (137,256 lei in 2023).

Despite multiple attempts by political parties, the intention to ban the combination of pension and salary in the public sector has so far been declared unconstitutional. Recent data shows that in April 2024, the average pension of a former magistrate was 24,000 lei, about 3,000 lei more than the same period last year.