LMP accuses govt control office of “stealing” EU money

Budapest (MTI) – The opposition LMP party has accused the Government Control Office (KEHI) of embezzling 17 million forints (EUR 53,450) of EU money.

KEHI, which is in charge of overseeing public spending, had called a tender for a study on its own organisational development, said Akos Hadhazy, the party’s spokesman for anti-corruption affairs. The office accepted bids by two firms, Telos Partners and Meritum Novum, which he said were professionally unqualified for the task, Hadhazy said. Telos won the tender.

The outcome of Telos’s study is a three-page decree by KEHI’s president on assessing the office’s IT hardware needs, the LMP politician said, adding that the entire process had been superfluous.

“KEHI has stolen the EU money,” Hadhazy said.

KEHI responded by dismissing LMP’s charges, stating that the office had won 27 million forints in funding in a tender under the EU’s State Reform Operational Programme and this spending had been legally accounted for.

KEHI denied having spent 17 million forints on a study and insisted that it had accepted bids from three professionally qualified contenders.

The control office also rejected the accusation that the study had resulted in a short decree, stating that the assessment of the actual project’s results alone totalled 28 pages.

KEHI said all of the related contracts are available to the public as these have been posted in full on the office’s website.

The office has filed a complaint against Hadhazy for public defamation.

Photo: kozpontban.hu

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