Hungary’s tax authority (NAV) has detained six people in a criminal investigation into the misuse of over 17 billion forints (EUR 44m) in funds disbursed by the National Cultural Fund (NKA).
NAV financial investigators had previously conducted searches and seizures at the former culture and innovation ministry, the National Cultural Support Fund (NKTK), and at private individuals’ premises, the authority said in a statement on Tuesday. In recent weeks, they questioned a large number of witnesses and analysed and evaluated a vast amount of seized electronic data to clarify the facts of the case, it added.
“Financial investigators have made significant progress in the case: on June 23, six people were charged on suspicion of committing a crime,” the authority said. It added that the suspects had previously worked for the NKTK and the one-time culture and innovation ministry, and some of them were still employed in the current social relations and culture ministry.
The individuals were questioned on well-founded suspicion of misappropriation of funds causing damage in excess of 17 billion forints, the statement said.
“The Hanko scandal investigation is advancing,” Zoltán Tarr, the minister for social relations and culture, commented on Facebook on Tuesday.
Tarr said: “The work of investigators and a review of public funds previously allocated on the basis of political loyalty are essential to transform the cultural funding system into one that operates transparently and on a professional basis.”
Opposition Fidesz responded by saying the Tisza Party was using the state to eliminate political opponents.
In a statement, Fidesz insisted that NKA grant applications had been public and accessible to all, with nearly 1,100 organisations having received funding for cultural programmes.
“Those who are now shouting the loudest received hundreds of millions of forints from cultural grants in recent years,” the party said, adding that the deadline for accounting for these funds has not yet passed.
“After the elections, the Tisza Party brought the police and prosecution under its control,” Fidesz said. “The culmination of this process is a modern-day [communist-era state security apparatus] AVH, which acts as an investigative authority, prosecutor’s office and intelligence service all at once.”
Balázs Bús, a former Fidesz mayor of Budapest’s 3rd district, is almost among the detainees.
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