Hungarian Minister Lajos Kósa disposed over 4.3 bn EUR

Szombathely, 2018. március 5. Kósa Lajos megyei jogú városok fejlesztéséért felelõs tárca nélküli miniszter beszél a Modern városok program szombathelyi fejlesztéseirõl szóló sajtótájékoztatón a kibõvített uszoda új medencéjénél 2018. március 5-én. Szombathelyen és környékén 80-90 milliárd forintnyi fejlesztés valósul meg 2022-ig. MTI Fotó: Varga György

According to a report by daily Magyar Nemzet, Lajos Kósa, minister without portfolio in charge of the government’s Modern Cities scheme was entrusted to buy government bonds for more than 4 bn EUR. In fact, this sum is more than Montenegro’s total state budget and equals the money Hungary spends on health care. Furthermore, an average Hungarian has to work for such an income for 541,000 years. Kósa denies and calls the report fake news, but admits that the notarial deed Magyar Nemzet published is real. Magyar Nemzet will release new information tomorrow.

Skeletons in the closet

To start with, government members are under attack lately regarding their spending and luxurious travels. Lastly, documents, photos and videos were made public about

deputy PM Zsolt Semjén’s hunting in Sweden for more than 500,000 EUR.

Now Lajos Kósa has to explain a notarial deed from 2013 which authorised him to buy government bonds for 4.3 bn EUR. According to the document, this sum was deposited into an FHB Bank account. However, the minister could withdraw and transfer money. Moreover, he was authorised to manage the bank account, but he could not cancel it.

Government-close PestiSrácok and origo.hu impeached the document claiming that there is no signature and stamp on it. However, Magyar Nemzet made the full document public later. Thus, it has become clear that it is not phoney and was made in Ádám Tóth’s Notary Public Office.

Answering a question of Magyar Nemzet, Kósa did not deny that its authenticity. However, he said on a press conference today that

he has never bought government securities for anyone and never accepted money from anyone.

A German heiress found Kósa

After all, he also called the report of Magyar Nemzet fake news. The minister said he had once recommended to a German woman introduced to him by a co-worker’s acquaintance that she invest the large sum of money she had inherited into Hungarian government bonds. However, “nothing ever became of it”, he said. He said the woman’s lawyer was a “distant acquaintance” of his, adding that the lawyer had “probably tried the story on others as well.” He even posted a video on Facebook about what happened claiming that the opposition media only tries to discredit him.

According to Jobbik’s MP Dániel Z. Kárpát,

Kósa has to explain from where he got this colossal sum and what he did with it.

Interestingly, he claimed that based on a 2012 Wikipedia summary only 21 Germans had such a large fortune. Furthermore, nobody died of them around the time in question. He added that should Jobbik govern Hungary; they would reveal all such cases.

Socialist MP Zsolt Molnár called together the National Security Committee of the Parliament to clear this case. Moreover, Democratic Coalition turned to the European Commission to investigate it. Finally, LMP’s PM candidate Bernadett Szél announced that she would call together a parliament committee of inquiry.

According to Magyar Nemzet,