Jobbik: Saudi businessman poses ‘national security risk’

Budapest, June 7 (MTI) – The activities of a Saudi businessman in Hungary, including alleged business deals with the family of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and prominent members of the ruling Fidesz party, raise corruption and national security risks, radical nationalist Jobbik said on Tuesday.

Citing press reports concerning graft allegations surrounding Turkish, Jordanian and Saudi businessmen, Jobbik MP Márton Gyöngyösi told a press conference that all three businessmen had ties to the Hungarian national trading house and development projects connected with protected buildings, as well as with Orbán’s entrepeneur son-in-law.

The company of Saudi businessman Ghaith Pharaon, who is associated with financing terrorism and is on an FBI wanted list, has bought the former headquarters in Budapest of Postabank from a company in which Orbán’s son-in-law, István Tiborcz, holds a stake.

“Viktor Orban’s family and his ministers are making business deals with terrorists,” Gyöngyösi said.

It is suspected that a luxury hotel will be built at the site, he said. This supported by the fact that an underground garage for 525 vehicles is being built there and the city council has cancelled a contract for the operation of a homeless shelter near the site. Meanwhile, the square will be revamped with expensive paving, he said.

If the economy ministry, a grand building located on the same square, is moved to the Castle District, the building which currently houses it could also be acquired by the same company, he added.

A series of criminal acts are suspected in connection with the case which makes “Viktor Orbán open to blackmail” so this poses a risk to national security, Gyöngyösi said.

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