EBRD sees no evidence for alleged fraud by ethnic Hungarian mayor

Sfantu Gheorghe, Romania, February 24 (MTI) – The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has “no reason to believe” that a loan it had provided for Romania’s Sfantu Gheorghe (Sepsiszentgyörgy) was used in a fraudulent way, an EBRD spokesman told MTI at its enquiry on Wednesday.

MTI had approached EBRD in the wake of press reports that Romania’s anti-corruption agency searched the home and offices of Mayor Arpad Antal and his associates. Antal was then suspended from his office and placed under surveillance.

The Romanian authorities suspect that the mayor had drawn 4.2 million euros from the EBRD loan and used it for a purpose different from the loan agreement.

Antal told MTI that his office had acted legally, and the bank, which had monitored utilisation of the funds, had not raised any objections.

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