Former Socialist lawmaker Simon pleads not guilty in corruption trial

Budapest, September 21 (MTI) – Gábor Simon, former chairman of the board of the opposition Socialist Party, has plead not guilty to charges of financial fraud and falsifying documents at a criminal trial that started in the municipal court on Wednesday.

According to the charges, between 2008 and 2012 Simon declared only his income as a lawmaker and state secretary on income tax returns and asset declarations. In parallel, he opened bank accounts in third countries that contained the equivalent of several hundreds of millions of forints from an unidentified source. He did not pay personal income tax or health insurance on these sums, with damages to the state amounting to 120 million forints, the charges continued.

Further, Simon later was implicated together with another suspect in obtaining a false passport for Bissau-Guinea. Using this document, he opened further bank accounts and placed in them significant sums, the charge sheet read.

Simon was a Socialist MP from 2002 until February 2014, when he resigned in wake of the allegations against him.

Photo: MTI

Source: MTI