Oppostion calls for more assets transparency

Budapest, February 1 (MTI) – The tax authority should monitor private loans provided or taken by politicians, the head of the opposition Együtt party said on Monday.

Viktor Szigetvári insisted that politicians “mostly belonging to Fidesz” covered up “holes” in their incomes or assets by “undercover” loans from private individuals. He accused ruling party politicians of amassing loans of typically around ten million forints. The current system of annual asset declarations does not involve having to provide any further details, he added.

Szigetvári also suggested the government should set up an online database of the asset declarations of public officials including municipal council members. The current system of asset declaration is “risible”, he added.

Szigetvári referred to last year’s declarations published earlier on Monday, and mentioned for example Antal Rogan, the prime minister’s cabinet chief, whom he said leads a far more luxurious lifestyle than his income would enable him to.

Similarly, Foreign Minister Peter Szijjártó and János Lázár, the head of the government office, “buy houses, land, and repay loans while they lack sufficient income; these people must be living on thin air”, Szigetvári said.

The opposition Democratic Coalition (DK) demanded greater transparency and access to all previous declarations. Zsolt Gréczy, the party’s spokesman, criticised the current system of filing declarations and demanded that they should be filed electronically and there should be an open-access database of all previous declarations. DK also demands asset declarations by politicians when entering and leaving their posts to allow scrutiny of any wealth increases, including those of their relatives.

The opposition Dialogue for Hungary (PM) party said asset declaration of politicians’ relatives should be transparent and any loans by private individuals should be on the record.

The ruling Fidesz-Christian Democrats said they want to know where 900 million forints (EUR 2.9m) DK leader Ferenc Gyurcsány recently gained on the sale of his stake in a private business had “disappeared” to. Gyurcsány failed to enter that amount in his asset declaration, Istvan Hollik, a lawmaker for KDNP, told a press conference.

He added that the system in Hungary for asset declarations is one of the strictest in the European Union and is entirely appropriate in its present form. He noted that in the recent past, the government amended rules on asset declarations to ensure that not only lawmakers, but also their relatives, must present the relevant documentation. This data is then checked by the authorities, he said.

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