Court rules in fraud case in line with OLAF recommendation

Acting on the recommendation of the EU’s anti-corruption office (OLAF), a Hungarian court has found the co-owners of a medical company guilty of fraudulently using European Union and Hungarian budget funds.

The case concerns a bid for funds to purchase medical equipment in 2008 by the co-owners of a medical company claiming to set up a regional diagnostics centre, the Budapest prosecution office said in a statement on Tuesday. But with the involvement of a Slovak firm and an off-shore company in the Seychelles, they defrauded the Hungarian state of 214 million forints (EUR 630,000) by itemising in their tender overpriced diagnostic equipment which was then purchased from a Slovak company for 101 million forints.

A “commission” on the purchase price ended up offshore.

Meanwhile, the equipment was not put into service or used in the region where it was supposed to be installed.

The Metropolitan Court of Appeal sentenced the primary defendant — who had already been found guilty of large-scale budgetary fraud in a separate case — to three years in prison.

The associate was fined 1.2 million forints and has paid 214 million forints back to the state, the statement said.

• Corruption in Hungary: Bribery charges raised against four in Alstom case

Source: MTI