Parliament holds debate on offshore business

Budapest, May 30 (MTI) – Hungary’s parliament held a debate on offshore business on the initiative of the opposition LMP party on Monday.

In the debate, Csaba Dömötör, state secretary at the Prime Minister’s Office, insisted that cooperation with the opposition on the matter was not possible because “the opposition is mired in such affairs itself”. Referring to previous governments between 2002 and 2010, Dömötör said that offshore businesses were “in bloom”. The current government, however, has made public procurements more transparent and scaled back the black economy, he said.

Ruling Fidesz MP Erik Bánki said that government’s measures against offshore business were “outstanding” in Europe and insisted that offshore companies were now excluded from using public funds.

Bánki noted that the term offshore was not defined in Hungary’s legislation and stipulations to restrict such companies were lacking. He added, however, that in terms of passing new legislation, Hungary is “at the forefront” of Europe.

András Schiffer, LMP’s co-leader, asked the ruling parties for cooperation in efforts to prevent offshore companies from being registered in Hungary and to eliminate ways for such companies to obtain public contracts.

Ágnes Vadai, a lawmaker of leftist opposition Democratic Coalition (DK), said earlier on Monday that DK would submit a proposal for a parliamentary decree banning lawmakers and their family members from owning offshore business. The parliamentary debate on offshore businesses is “completely unnecessary”, as it is only by legislation that such activities can be prevented, she told a press conference.

Photo: MTI

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