Opposition parties demand answers for cbank multi-billion art purchase

Budapest (MTI) – The Hungarian Liberal Party has called on the central bank to convene its supervisory board and question the bank’s governor Gyorgy Matolcsy over the recent purchase of a Titian painting for 4.5 billion forints (EUR 14.5m).

The supervisory board should examine who at the bank has the authority to approve such purchases, the Liberals said in a statement on Friday. Besides other expensive art work, the bank has also bought real estate and finances foundations, it added.

“Central bank leaders are treating taxpayers’ money like it was their own private petty cash bank, available to spend on their indulgences,” the statement signed by the party’s economic spokesman Zoltan Bodnar said.

The Liberals submitted a draft amendment to the Central Bank Act aimed at “stopping luxury spending at the bank”, but the governing majority did not even take it on the agenda, the statement said.

The Dialogue for Hungary party said on Friday they would file an official data request with the central bank over the purchase of the Titian, and if the governor fails to provide an adequate answer they vowed to sue him.

The party added the painting’s market value six years ago was 1.4 billion forints and it was doubtful its value had increased by that much since. Further, it raised the suspicion that the purchase may have provided a mechanism for embezzlement.