The government on Friday submitted its proposal to set up a National Asset Recovery and Protection Office (NVVH).
Asset recovery bill submitted
Under the bill, the new authority will operate independent of the government, and report directly to parliament each year. According to the proposal, the president and four vice-presidents of the authority will be under special police protection and will enjoy immunity. The new organisation will be “governed by legal regulations and will not receive instructions by any other agency or person.”
The NVVH will have the authority to launch investigations and enter any relevant premises and have access to documents whether hard copies or electronic, and review the finances of any organisation subject to an NVVH probe. In the interest of recovering public funds, the NVVH will have the power of indictment and request cooperation from the police or other authorities.
The leaders of the new organisation will be elected by parliament within 30 days of the new law taking effect.
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From state to private pockets
Authors of the bill wrote in their justification that an estimated 30,000 billion forints (EUR 84m) “went from the state to private pockets” through unlawful transactions in the past 20 years. “Rather than serving infrastructure, education, or health development projects those funds became private assets: properties, yachts and sports cars in Hungary and abroad,” they said. “Public funds did not make the country richer but its plunderers,” they added.
According to the justification it is a “crucial expectation by society” that state properties should be restored to the state, and the government is bent on recovering as much as possible from the stolen assets and use them to the benefit of the nation.
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