Companies deny report that Matolcsy’s cousin owns media outlet New Wave

Budapest, April 25 (MTI) – The media companies New Wave Production and New Wave Media, which publish online news portals origo and vs.hu, denied earlier reports that Tamás Szemerey, the cousin of central bank governor György Matolcsy, owned these firms or “the related websites”.

“Contrary to reports, the fact is that Tamás Szemerey has never been the owner of the two companies mentioned or the portals affiliated with them,” the companies said in a joint statement on Monday. They added that this means that suggestions must be rejected of a link between funding awarded to those firms from the central bank’s foundations and family ties.

The opposition Együtt party said on Saturday it had filed a complaint for misappropriation of funds over a grant of half a billion forints the National Bank of Hungary’s foundations paid to media company New Wave. Együtt said one of the companies was affiliated with Szemerey and called on him to pay back the 501 million forints (EUR 1.6m) received from the Pallas Athene foundations, calling it “outrageous” that Fidesz was “lining the pockets of friends and relatives from taxpayer money.”

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