Election 2018 – Fidesz refuses to attend parliament committee meeting on Kósa-gate scandal

Ruling Fidesz refused to attend a session of the national security committee on Tuesday convened by a Socialist lawmaker to investigate allegations that a minister had fallen for a financial scam.

The (Fidesz) deputy head of the committee, Szilárd Németh, cited security concerns posed by people associated with US financier George Soros as the reason for their boycott, and the meeting lacked a quorum.

Németh of the Fidesz party was asked to comment on Socialist committee head Zsolt Molnár’s call for a committee meeting to be convened on Tuesday in order to clarify press reports concerning suspect financial dealings by Lajos Kósa, the minister in charge of city developments.

Németh said the session had been called on the basis of “rumours and fake news” for election campaign purposes.

Referring to green opposition LMP representative Bernadett Szél and associated “national security risks”, he said that as long as “Soros’s people” were members of the committee, Fidesz would refuse to participate.

The operation of the “Soros network” is a growing national security problem in Hungary, he said. Németh said recent reports had suggested that representatives of the network had tried to convince foreign governments and German companies to boycott production in Hungary. This, he added, would threaten many Hungarian jobs.

Citing the press, Németh also insisted that the deputy head of Migration Aid had “admitted” that the NGO’s entire operation as a humanitarian organisation was a front for acquiring money and political power.

Molnár said they had wanted government members and the security services to provide information concerning reports that a private individual had commissioned Kósa to handle 1,300 billion forints (EUR 4.35bn) and he had suggested buying government bonds.