DK vows to investigate tobacconists
Budapest, December 2 (MTI) – The opposition Democratic Coalition (DK) will investigate the increasing wealth of tobacconists who have benefited from ruling “Fidesz’s tobacconist fraud”, the party said on Wednesday.
As a result of a successful lawsuit filed against the development ministry, DK has the details of companies that won concessions after the ruling Fidesz party came into power, deputy party leader Laszlo Varju said. Fidesz can no longer keep who benefited from the tobacconist concessions a secret, he added.
Varju, who sits in parliament as an independent, said that Fidesz robbed tobacconists of their business with the help of a law in 2013 in order to distribute the concession rights to the party’s supporters. The 12 people who evaluated tobacconist tenders at the time hold well-paid jobs as advisors and state secretaries today, he added.
According to the parliamentary group of ruling Fidesz, the opposition party “discredits” national tobacco shops because “it sides with foreign interests”.
In a statement, Fidesz insisted that “international tobacco companies mourning over their profits” seek revenge on Hungary and they have persuaded the European Commission to screen the whole of Hungary’s tobacco distribution system. DK head Ferenc Gyurcsany “keeps launching attacks on the tobacco distribution system designed to help Hungary’s small enterprises”, it said.
Signatories to the statement also insisted that making the retail sale of tobacco a state monopoly and changing the distribution system has reduced the number of smokers in the country.