Opposition disappointed with Quaestor bill

Budapest, December 15 (MTI) – The government-initiated bill aimed to compensate victims of failed brokerage Quaestor will only “make their losses irreversible”, a Socialist deputy told a press conference on Tuesday.

Parliament on Tuesday passed a law for providing compensation to victims of failed brokerage Quaestor. Under the new law which took into account Constitutional Court recommendations, compensation with an upper limit of 30 million forints (EUR 95,000) per claimant will be offered to a redefined group of fraud victims.

Claimants joining the compensation fund will be placed into two categories. The compensation amount is calculated by deducting from the principle any yields gained in the past as well as an extra 11 percent reflecting investment risk on amounts exceeding 3 million forints.

Speaking ahead of the vote, Laszlo Szakacs said investors will be reimbursed up to 40-50 percent of their investments and lose yields generated over several years. Neither will they recoup investment-related taxes paid earlier, said, adding that claimants would also be required to waive any rights to file suits for the remaining amount, the deputy added.

Dialogue for Hungary (PM) expressed solidarity with Quaestor victims, saying they were “small-scale investors hoping for yields of one or two percent” on their investments and they were not “profiteers”. Party spokesman Bence Tordai told a separate press conference that the victims should be given compensation “at face value”. He also laid blame for the Quaestor scandal at the door of the central bank.

The radical nationalist Jobbik party called on the government to ensure full compensation to all victims. Jobbik deputy chair Daniel Z Karpat insisted that ruling Fidesz had “deceived” the investors, half of whom would receive a “seemingly full” compensation, while over 15,000 of them would only be reimbursed for 80-90 percent of their investment. He said the bill was a “diktat” under which claimants would be denied legal remedy in future.

The law passed with 154 lawmakers in favour, 11 against and 31 abstentions.

Photo: MTI

Source: http://mtva.hu/hu/hungary-matters