Charges of EU, state fund misappropriation pressed in West Hungary castle renovation project

The public prosecutor in Zala County has raised fraud charges against the heads of three firms in connection with the refurbishment of a castle in Egervár, in western Hungary.

The suspects are accused of misappropriating European Union and Hungarian state funds, the prosecutor’s office of Zala County said in a statement on Tuesday.

In the case dating back to November 2012, the main defendant concluded a contract with the National Development Agency for the 638 million forints (EUR 1.96m) of upgrades to the national heritage Nádasdy-Széchenyi Castle for tourism purposes with non-refundable EU and Hungarian state funding.

The main contractor concluded contracts worth 28 million forints with the two other companies for work that included furniture refurbishment and PR campaigns promoting the site by the August 31, 2015 deadline.

It transferred payments in advance to the two subcontractors using invoices that documented work they had not delivered by the set deadline.

Charges also include VAT fraud by the main contractor who is suspected of having reclaimed 16 million forints in unpaid taxes using false invoices.

The county prosecutor’s office is seeking prison sentences for the suspects.

Featured image: Wiki Commons

Source: MTI