Govt publishes OLAF report, blames previous cabinets for corruption scandal

Budapest, February 3 (MTI) – Findings of an investigation by the European Union anti-fraud office (OLAF) “clearly shows” that the previous, Leftist governments and Budapest’s earlier management are to blame for the corruption scandal around the construction of the city’s fourth metro line, state secretary Nándor Csepreghy said on Friday, after the government published the OLAF report on its website.

Csepreghy noted that publication of the English-language document had been delayed by data protection considerations.

The state secretary called the cases of alleged corruption identified in the report the “largest corruption scandal of the past 13 years” due to which the country will probably have to repay a total 59 billion forints (EUR 191m) to the European Union, which the community had contributed to the project.

The M4 project, completed in 2014, cost a total 452 billion forints, of which 272 billion is suspected to have been used illegally, while another 166 billion forints “were stolen”, he said.

Csepreghy insisted that “all but one” of the suspicious contracts involved in the project had been signed before 2010, and concluded that “the most corrupt project of all times” is linked to Leftist governments.

The government is seeking ways to reclaim the amount to cover the possible European fine from “affected politicians and companies,” Csepreghy said.

The opposition Socialists welcomed publication of the report and voiced hope that “the document is authentic”. In a statement, the party called for an “unbiased and impartial” investigation. “Those proven guilty should go to jail and repay the money,” the Socialist statement said.

Jobbik said that perpetrators of the alleged graft should be identified. Municipal Jobbik representative Marcell Gergely Tokody said it should be ascertained who signed the contracts with the companies in question, and called it “outrageous” that nobody has been indicted yet.

You can read here the English-language document! 

UPDATE

Green opposition LMP urged immediate public investigations into the case.

“I can honestly say that I want to see heads roll into the dust,” Budapest councillor Antal Csárdi said, calling the case “Europe’s biggest corruption scandal”. He said political players presented in a negative light in the report should draw the necessary conclusions from the scandal and accept political responsibility. Hungary cannot continue to be a country where nothing has consequences, he said. Csárdi said LMP would review the report and file the criminal complaints it deems necessary if the municipal council leadership failed to do so.