Fidesz wants EU anti-fraud office to investigate Altus contract

Budapest, December 8 (MTI) – Hungary’s ruling Fidesz party wants the European Union’s anti-fraud office (OLAF) to examine a contract the European Commission awarded to Altus, a company owned by Ferenc Gyurcsány, a former prime minister who now heads the opposition Democratic Coalition (DK).

Commenting on the 383,000 euro contract to produce a study on the results of Poland’s cohesion policy, Fidesz MEP Tamás Deutsch said on Tuesday that Fidesz would do its utmost to put a line under a series of “corrupt deals” involving the opposition.

OLAF is holding a conference in Budapest on Friday and a Hungarian government representative will raise the issue then, he added.

DK said in response that Fidesz’s “threats” against Altus were “pathetic”. Hungary can be proud that one of its companies boasts internationally acclaimed experts and leads an international consortium which won the contract in an open and fully transparent competition called by the European Commission, the party said.

Nándor Csepreghy, parliamentary state secretary at the prime minister’s office, said the commission does not seem to have given up on “actively intervening” in the internal party financing affairs of an EU member state. The commission has been financially supporting a company with a single member, an active politician who spends the money to finance his own opposition party, Csepreghy added.

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