Two Constanța lawyers acquitted after 2016 conviction overturned by Bucharest Court of Appeal
Bucharest's Court of Appeal has overturned the final conviction to four years' imprisonment of lawyers Sorin Calaigii and Mihaela Lupu, acquitting them on the grounds that the alleged offences do not exist.
2016 judgment overturned: Constanța lawyers acquitted on review
On 3 June 2026, Bucharest's Court of Appeal overturned the final judgment by which Constanța lawyers Sorin Calaigii and Mihaela Lupu (formerly Bodârlău) had been sentenced to four years' imprisonment with execution for influence peddling, according to G4Media. In the retrial of the review petition, the Court of Appeal acquitted both, finding that the facts charged against them do not exist. The decision is not yet final, however.
Initially, in 2016, the High Court of Cassation and Justice found them guilty of having accepted bribes from underworld figures, claiming they could influence judges at Constanța's Court of Appeal to resolve their cases favourably. The two lawyers served their prison sentences, remaining obliged to return the sums received as bribes.
The path to retrial
In 2023, Calaigii and Lupu submitted a review petition to the Court of Appeal, which was rejected. The two appealed to the High Court of Cassation and Justice, and a panel which included the current president of the supreme court, Lia Savonea, decided that the review petition should be retrialled. The argument: the underworld figures who had denounced the two lawyers would have lied and committed the offence of perjury.
On 3 June 2026, in the retrial of the review petition, the Court of Appeal admitted the petitions filed by Mihaela Lupu and Sorin Calaigii, overturned the criminal judgment handed down by Bucharest's Court of Appeal in December 2015, as well as the High Court of Cassation and Justice's decision from November 2016, and acquitted both of all influence peddling offences charged, ruling that these do not exist. The court also ordered Calaigii's acquittal for the offence of influence peddling concerning the second fact in the indictment, and Mihaela Lupu's acquittal for the offence of extortion.
Security measures lifted
By the same decision, the Court of Appeal removed the special confiscation measure of 3,000 lei imposed on Sorin Calaigii and lifted the conservatory seizure instituted by the National Anti-Corruption Directorate – Constanța Territorial Service in 2014 on an Audi A6 motor vehicle, a BMW X6 motor vehicle and shares of land situated in Constanța municipality, held in joint ownership with his wife, Costina-Marilena Calaigii. Furthermore, the ruling on extended confiscation of 47,229 lei and the equivalent in lei of 29,500 euro was removed, and the goods in question are to be returned to the defendant. The court also eliminated Calaigii's obligation to pay court costs advanced by the state, in the amount of 7,700 lei.
Calaigii's name in the case of arrested prosecutors
The case takes on an additional dimension in the context of lawyer Sorin Calaigii's name appearing in the arrest warrant for two Constanța prosecutors, Gigi Ștefan and Teodor Niță, held preventively for 30 days.
"In the criminal cases handled by prosecutor Teodor Niță, lawyers Cristian Ion, Alexandru Petru Lisievici Brezeanu and Sorin Calaigii have a role in negotiating the manner in which undue material benefits will be received so that a favourable resolution can be issued in the criminal cases handled by prosecutors Gigi Ștefan Valentin and Teodor Niță", the warrant states, according to G4Media.
The Court of Appeal's decision from 3 June 2026 can be appealed, as it is not yet final.
Source: G4Media