Two government and state leaders face heavy jail sentences for corruption in Hungary

The investigative office of the Public Prosecutor’s Office has charged György Schadl, the former head of Hungary’s branch of bailiffs, and former state secretary Pál Völner with corruption, money laundering and other property crimes, the prosecutor’s office said on Monday.

Völner resigned from his post as a state secretary of the justice ministry last December, when he came under suspicion of having accepted bribes from Schadl over a sustained period of time.

The prosecutor’s office now charged Schadl with paying bribes regularly to Völner between May 2018 and July 2021, at least 83 million forints (EUR 202,000) in total, who in turn used his position as state secretary to promote seven people pushed by Schadl as independent bailiffs. Those bailiffs then paid all or part of their revenues back to Schadl, the charges said.

For that and other crimes detailed in the charges, the prosecutor’s office asked for Schadl to be sentenced to 10 years in prison, and Völner to 8 years.

Schadl would have to pay 200 million forints and Völner 25 million in fines, they would be permanently banned from exercising professions requiring a law degree, and from public affairs for 10 years. Prosecutors are also proposing a seizure of assets to the value of the illicit enrichment of the accused, the charges said.

Regarding 20 other people charged in the case, prosecutors have asked for prison sentences for four other people charged (if they confess to the charges), suspended prison sentences for 15 others and a fine for one person, the document said.

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