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PM Orbán’s favourite entrepreneur is richer than Habsburgs were
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Lőrinc Mészáros is a former gas fitter who became mayor of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s hometown Felcsút in 2011. His companies have been winning public tenders in a row since the so-called G-day when the friendship and alliance between PM Orbán and biggest government oligarch Lajos Simicska broke up. Mészáros’s wealth has risen from 23 billion (EUR 75M) to 120 billion HUF (385M EUR) in only 12 months last year. According to index.hu, his fortune is bigger now than former Hungarian noble families’ like Habsburgs were 90 years ago.
‘Maybe I am smarter than Mark Zuckerberg’
Lőrinc Mészáros was born in 1966 in Székesfehérvár. He started his career in the early 90’s installing gas in Felcsút and the neighbouring villages. His company grew considerably; however, they nearly became bankrupt in 2007. Later PM then just opposition leader Viktor Orbán helped him out. He offered him the presidency of his newly found football academy in Felcsút.
After Orbán started to govern following his landslide victory in 2010 parliamentary elections, Mészáros began to expand.
His secret was simple: being close a close friend to the Prime Minister and therefore, winning public tenders.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9uunszFUN0UTHg2QUVtQnM1b0U/view
More than wage union: 200,000 HUF (700 EUR)/min income
Mészáros’s name became well-known in Hungary after the so-called G-day. On 6th February 2015, the friendship and alliance between PM Orbán and then biggest government oligarch Lajos Simicska’s friendship and alliance broke up. Since then the Mészáros-empire has been growing unstoppably. According to some calculations,
his companies won 225 billion HUF (EUR 716M) on public tenders just in 2016.
Whereas Orbán’s new oligarch had only 6.9 billion HUF (EUR 22M) in 2013, he started 2017 with a 120 billion HUF (EUR 382M) fortune. Though in 2010 he had only one company, he has more than 100 now and the number is ever increasing.
‘Maybe I’m smarter than Mark Zuckerberg’
– said Mészáros to reporters asking about his fabulous enrichment this February.
Mészáros: strawman of PM Orbán?
Altogether, the Mészáros-empire is worth 260 million EUR based on calculations of boell.de. The empire consists of all the Hungarian regional newspapers, many radios, construction and energy companies, tourist agencies alongside some agricultural and real estate firms and even a television.
