Former ambassador’s alleged involvement in paedophilia scandal ‘shocking, regrettable’, says Fidesz

Parliament’s foreign affairs committee discussed press reports suggesting the involvement of Gábor Kaleta, Hungary’s former ambassador to Peru, in a child pornography case behind closed doors on Monday.

Zsolt Németh, the head of the body delegated by ruling Fidesz, told a press conference after the meeting that

the case was “shocking and regrettable, casting a shadow on the whole of Hungary’s diplomatic corps”.

• Hungarian Ambassador to Peru involved in child pornography

Németh called Hungary’s handling of the case “exemplary”, saying that the Hungarian authorities had not hesitated to withdraw the ambassador from his post after they were alerted to the allegations against him last March. Following an investigation between March and November last year, charges were pressed against Kaleta and his case will be heard in court next month, Németh said.

He said that

the case had “negligible” political implications, arguing that the former ambassador had been screened several times and his appointment was supported by all political parties.

Németh said, however, that the system of national security screening called for modernisation, adding that the National Intelligence Office was preparing a proposal to that end.

• Americans asked to keep the arrest of the Hungarian Ambassador involved in child porn scandal in secret

Source: MTI