Socialists prepare anti-graft bill

Budapest, August 30 (MTI) – The opposition Socialist Party is drafting an anti-corruption bill with a view to guaranteeing openness and transparency in public affairs while preventing the kind of political corruption that it insists is associated with the ruling Fidesz party.

The package will also address problems related to asset declarations by lawmakers, Bertalan Tóth, the Socialist parliamentary group leader, told a press conference on Tuesday.

The Socialists want to present an alternative vision of how parliament and democratic institutions should work as well as how lawmakers should engage in politics in a transparent manner, he said.

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Referring to the Council of Europe’s Group of States against Corruption (GRECO), which Tóth said has identified “legislative corruption” in Hungary, he said that the party’s proposals were based on the group’s recommendations. The Socialists, he said, object to legislative proposals being made by individual MPs instead of the government, among other common practices.

The bill also covers tightening rules on conflict of interest relating to lawmakers and abolishing the practice of MPs holding multiple posts, Tamas Harangozó, the party’s anti-corruption spokesman, told the same press conference. Further, information regarding government advisors should be in the public domain, he added.

The Socialists will draft the law package in October and hope to have a debate on December 9, International Anti-Corruption Day.

Fidesz said in response that the Socialists are riddled with corruption and they should prepare a testimony instead of a law package on corruption. The Socialists have never revealed what they knew about former deputy leader Gábor Simon’s hundreds of millions of forints hidden in foreign bank accounts and about “Alstom bribes dribbled to the former Socialist prime minister and his associates”, the Fidesz statement said.

“Bertalan Tóth himself, who is now preaching about anti-corruption” has been implied in several affairs, involving mismanagement, offshore funds and the abuse of public monies”, it added.

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The Fidesz group has declared zero tolerance against corruption and has launched investigations in all dubious cases, Fidesz said.

Source: MTI