Jobbik demands declaration of assets owned by politicians’ families

Budapest, January 11 (MTI) – The current system of lawmakers obliged to submit a declaration of their assets each year is “worthless” in its current form, an MP of the Jobbik said on Wednesday, and demanded that the assets owned by family members should also be made public.

Addressing a press conference, György Szilágyi insisted that some politicians own assets “they should not own” and hide those properties by way of having them registered under the names of close relatives.

Szilágyi also claimed that “nobody verifies” if the current asset declarations are correct and parliament would not launch any proceedings on complaints concerning the content of those declarations.

Szilágyi said his party’s deputies will continue their practice of publishing their family members’ asset declarations, and called on the MPs of other parties to follow suit.

Jobbik also proposes that the tax authority should screen the assets of each deputy at the beginning and at the end of each parliamentary cycle.

In response, ruling Fidesz insisted that the Hungarian asset declaration system was “one of the most stringent” of such regimes “but the laws should be enforced”. In a statement, Fidesz accused Jobbik deputy leader János Volner of pretending to have no assets “while it has turned out that his wife owns seven properties”. The party statement also suggested that Jobbik leaders have contracted their own relatives as consultants and that Jobbik chief Gábor Vona was associated with businessmen involved in offshore companies.

Source: MTI