The officer from Craiova who had the courage to speak publicly about the way in which the competition for admission to the magistracy was conducted will be a prosecutor. The police officer challenged the grade he received in the interview test and was admitted.
Mihai Călin Alexandru, the policeman who will be a prosecutor PHOTO Ana Popescu
In the last 8 years, Mihai Călin Alexandru, a police officer at Criminal Investigations in Craiova, has been trying to enter the judiciary. Year after year he took the admission test, but every time he failed the interview test held at the Superior Council of Magistracy (CSM).
His ambition and dream of becoming a prosecutor led him to prepare even more intensively for this exam, and this year he managed to obtain the highest score in the legal knowledge test. He did not pass the interview test, however, this time either.
“Unfortunately, this exam is not fair!”
Mihai Călin Alexandru told “Adevărul” how the examination took place.
“At the interview on 02.3.2023, this was the question that was emphasized. I was asked if I would sponsor an old friend who is a successful businessman and accept an expensive apartment as a wedding gift from him? I answered that I would sponsor him only if he has a very good reputation, that is, I would not sponsor someone who has legal problems, and I could not take the expensive apartment as a gift. If the godfather wants to give me a gift, he can give me something symbolic. I was asked why I do not accept this expensive apartment as a gift since only I and the godfather would know about the gift… I answered that it is not a relevant argument that others do not know, this is how many crimes are committed because the perpetrators believe that they will not be caught and this clandestine behavior would not be worthy of a magistrate… So I firmly replied that I would not accept that gift and… I failed. What to understand? If you don’t accept very expensive gifts, can’t you be a good magistrate? What did I have to answer to get the interview?‘, declared Mihai Călin Alexandru.
The policeman told what happened in the past years as well.
“Unfortunately, this exam is not fair. At the interview in 2018, I had the same ethics case that I had in February 2022. I had the case with Facebook posts (by a magistrate). If last time I didn’t study ethics and I answered wrong that I would post…, this time I studied a lot of professional ethics, corrected all my past mistakes and did not make new ones, I knew that magistrates were excluded for Facebook posts, I answered correctly that I wouldn’t post and I reasoned ethically, but surprise, the grade was the same – 5… What should I understand from this aspect?… If when you answered wrong, you got a low grade, 5, how can you still get a low, non-promotional grade even when you do everything very well? How can you not pass the interview when you are among the first in legal, you are psychologically fit and you do everything perfectly in the interview? What does interview assessment really consist of?“, asked the policeman in the memorandum submitted to the CSM.
The policeman from Craiova enters the magistracy
The policeman from Craiova contested the grade he received at the interview and requested the promotion of the competition. Coincidentally or not, exactly one day after “Adevărul” made his case public, the Superior Council of Magistracy (CSM) gave the verdict. The appeal was upheld, and the few hundreds he needed to pass were finally awarded at the interview.
„I am glad that my interview was re-evaluated and I was deemed worthy to be a magistrate. Thank you to everyone who believed in me! I am happy because I am going to become a magistrate after 15 years of continuous training and I will do everything in my power not to disappoint the legitimate expectations of those who have found me suitable for this profession“, future prosecutor Mihai Călin Alexandru from Dolj declared for “Adevărul”.
