US Entry Ban – Opposition Parties Call on Orban to Act on US Entry Ban

Budapest, November 5 (MTI) – Opposition parties have called on Prime Minister Viktor Orban to immediately replace tax office (NAV) officials affected by the US entry ban.

Jozsef Tobias, head of the Socialist Party, called on tax office chief Ildiko Vida to resign after she confirmed that she was on the US blacklist, suspected of corruption. He told a news conference on Wednesday that if Vida fails to hand in her resignation then the economy minister, Mihaly Varga, should sack her without delay.

A statement by Vida confirming she was on the US blacklist is an “important but by far not sufficient” development in the case, the E-PM alliance said in a statement on Wednesday. E-PM added that Vida had insisted that “the government knew about the case”.

E-PM called on the government to reveal why “they lied, saying they had no information about the persons affected”.

Public trust in state institutions, especially the tax office, has been shaken, which is why Orban should intervene and replace the officials implicated, E-PM said.

The party also called on public prosecutor Peter Polt to start a procedure in line with a report submitted by E-PM.

E-PM’s co-leader Viktor Szigetvari told a press conference last week that Polt served the government’s political interests through his reluctance to launch an investigation in connection with the United States’ recent entry ban against Hungarian officials. He said E-PM would file a criminal complaint to force the prosecutor’s office to find out who the persons are and what cases of corruption they are linked to.