Mayor of Cernavodă acquitted by Supreme Court after 4 years in prison for corruption involving 9.3 million lei
Supreme Court acquitted PNL mayor Liviu Cristian Negoiță, previously sentenced for abuse of office, at the first hearing. The reasoning for the decision remains unavailable to the public, and the court record has disappeared from the court's website.
Supreme Court releases Cernavodă mayor convicted of abuse of office from prison
The Supreme Court of Cassation and Justice acquitted the PNL mayor of the city of Cernavodă, Liviu Cristian Negoiță, at the first hearing of an appeal to the Supreme Court, overturning a final conviction to 4 years imprisonment for abuse of office. His guilt had previously been established by six separate institutions. G4Media reports that the reasoning behind this decision was not made available to the public, and the court record has since disappeared from the website of the supreme court.
Negoiță has been mayor of Cernavodă since 2016. An audit by the Court of Audit conducted in 2019 discovered that, over a three-year period, the mayor had illegally financed the Axiopolis Cernavodă sports club, a private law entity, non-profit, whose associate also included the Local Council. The damages identified: 9.3 million lei.
According to Law 350/2005, financing such entities from public funds required a precise procedure: the Local Council would allocate sums for the "Sport" sector, the mayor's office would organise a competitive tender process, and contracts would be concluded with the winning entities. The Court of Audit found that only the first step of the entire procedure was being executed.
Without a competitive tender process, without a contract with the mayor's office, without preventive financial control certification, and without approval from legal departments, the Axiopolis club would submit its monthly financing needs, and Mayor Negoiță would personally approve the requests. Between 2017 and 2019, he approved 33 such requests, totalling 9.3 million lei.
From the total sum, the Court of Audit identified 1.4 million lei paid to a bodyguard company for security services and 1.8 million lei withdrawn in cash from the club's till with the justification "Miscellaneous", with no details whatsoever regarding the destination of the funds.
The Court of Audit's report was challenged by Negoiță at Constanța Tribunal, which rejected his action. The appeal to Constanța Court of Appeal was likewise rejected. At the referral of the Court of Audit, the National Anti-Corruption Directorate opened a criminal investigation concluded with an indictment.
On 7 February 2025, Constanța Tribunal found Negoiță guilty of abuse of office and sentenced him to 4 years imprisonment, also ordering confiscation of the 9.3 million lei, with seizures maintained on his assets. The appeal was rejected on 13 January 2026 by Constanța Court of Appeal, which confirmed the conviction by final judgment. Negoiță was imprisoned on the same day.
Shortly after imprisonment, the mayor filed an appeal to the Supreme Court of Cassation and Justice — an extraordinary remedy. On 27 May 2026, at the first hearing, a panel of three judges ordered his acquittal, arguing that the "act is not provided for by criminal law". The court also lifted the seizures imposed on his assets.
On the same day, Liviu Cristian Negoiță left Slobozia penitentiary. Judicial sources cited by G4Media claim that his relatives were already at the penitentiary gate to meet him before the court's decision was officially published on the portal.
The concrete reasons for the acquittal are not known to the public. G4Media requested the motivated decision from the Supreme Court on 7 July. The court's press office responded that it "is in the process of being drafted, a copy of which can be requested after finalisation". In the meantime, the court record has also disappeared from the Court's website.
The editorial office returned with a new request in September, asking both for the anonymised reasoning of the judgment and explanations regarding the disappearance of the court record. The response received from the ÎCCJ press office did not clarify the situation.
The case illustrates, according to G4Media, a mechanism through which the supreme court can make questionable decisions in cases of political sensitivity without the public having access to the legal reasoning behind them — Negoiță's guilt had been successively confirmed by the Court of Audit, two administrative court instances, the anti-corruption agency, Constanța Tribunal and Constanța Court of Appeal, before the Supreme Court ordered acquittal at the first hearing of the Supreme Court appeal.
Source: G4Media