Fidesz files report with tax office NAV on “foreign campaign financing” of left wing

Fidesz’s deputy group leader has raised a complaint with the national tax office NAV in connection with the foreign campaign financing of Hungary’s left wing.

In a video statement, János Halász noted that various of Hungary’s authorities and secret services are in the midst of examining the case, adding that many questions had yet to be answered.

He accused the leader of the Everybody’s Hungary Movement (MMM), Péter Márky-Zay, and other people on the left of successively contradicting themselves. At first they “kept quiet” about the “dollars rolling in”, before admitting to receiving funds in the hundreds of millions of forints. Later, it was revealed that money flowing in had reached HUF 3 billion (EUR 7.6 million), he added.

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Márky-Zay, the opposition’s candidate for prime minister, insisted that the sums had accrued through micro-donations, yet foreign NGO Action for Democracy had contradicted this statement, and finally he admitted that institutional donors had also made donations, he said.

Halász further accused groups linked to the chief adviser of Gergely Karácsony, the mayor of Budapest, of channelling HUF 1.85 billion to various recipients in Hungary. Oraculum 2020 Kft received 1 billion while Gordon Bajnai’s DatAdat received 148 million from the NGO. Also, he said MMM had made transfers totalling HUF 1.4 billion to DatAdat’s Austrian parent company.

The Fidesz politician said there were well-founded suspicions that budget fraud had been committed. He added that the tax office should clarify the details of the case and take criminal action if required.