US Entry Ban – Tax Office Head Confirms Being on US Blacklist

Budapest, November 5 (MTI) – Tax office (NAV) head Ildiko Vida has confirmed in an interview that she and several of her colleagues are affected by a US entry ban.

Vida told daily Magyar Nemzet that she would initiate civil and criminal suits for libel committed against her office and herself.

An investigative team has been set up to re-examine “under the microscope” all potential cases and ties with companies operating in Hungary, she added,

Vida described her inclusion on the blacklist as an “unprecedented and lowly attack”, adding that she had never been involved in any form of corruption. She said resignation was not an option because that would mean acknowledging the accusations.

Vida said the attacks against her person and her office were “incomprehensible”.

“We have been carrying out audits against interest groups for whom it is easy to establish links with the US embassy. It is also possible that external persons, lacking any basis for it, have made allusions to us in certain cases and it is almost impossible to defend ourselves against this,” she said.