No proceedings will be launched against Hungarian President Sulyok

The regional investigative prosecutor’s office of Szeged, in southern Hungary, has thrown out a criminal complaint filed by the opposition Democratic Coalition (DK) in connection with alleged abuse of office, fraud, and other purported crimes involving President Tamás Sulyok.

No proceedings against Sulyok

The central investigative chief prosecutor’s office (KNYF) said in a statement on Thursday that Klára Dobrev, MEP and shadow prime minister of DK, had accused the president of illegally taking his salary as a constitutional judge between 2014 and 2019, having failed to report a conflict of interest, thus “committing fraud and abuse of office”.

The prosecutor’s office, however, ascertained that Sulyok had informed the chamber of lawyers of Szeged that he would suspend his activities as a lawyer after being nominated for the Constitutional Court post. At the chamber’s enquiry in 2019, the president again stated that he was not active as a lawyer, the cases he had earlier worked on being taken care of by a deputy, the office said in its statement.

The prosecutors established that Sulyok had not worked as a lawyer during his tenure at the top court, so had not committed fraud or abuse of office and received his salary lawfully, the statement said.

Concerning farmland agreements Dobrev referred to in her complaint, the prosecutor’s office said “possible activities concerning those agreements cannot be subject to an investigation due to the expiry of the statute of limitations”, but the office added that they would “examine if it is necessary or possible to take a civil action”.

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