Prosecutor’s Office dedicated to investigating warnings concerning EU support

Public Prosecutor Péter Polt has met a delegation of the European Parliament’s Committee on Budgetary Control (CONT) and told them that “the Hungarian prosecutor’s office is dedicated to investigating recommendations and warnings concerning European Union funding,” the prosecutor’s office said on Tuesday. 

At the meeting on Monday, Polt and the delegation headed by CONT chairperson Ingeborg Graessle reviewed the prosecutor’s tasks in connection with EU funding. They discussed certain concrete cases and ties between the Hungarian prosecutor’s office, the European Anti-Fraud Office OLAF and the EU’s Judicial Cooperation Unit (Eurojust). They also discussed the issue of the planned European Public Prosecutor’s Office, the statement said.

The public prosecutor’s office maintains excellent and regular working relations with OLAF, which has also been confirmed by OLAF Director-General Giovanni Kesler, the statement added.

Contrary to statements by various politicians, the prosecutor’s office has ordered investigations in every case whenever OLAF contacted the office with recommendations or warnings. Whenever an investigation was under way, OLAF’s recommendations were added to the case and evaluated, it added.

As a result of 33 recommendations and four warnings by OLAF so far, the public prosecutor’s office has raised charges in seven cases.

Additionally, charges were raised as a result of an investigation launched in reaction to a 2011 report by OLAF. Two convictions resulted from these cases, an additional six rulings are still to be made and seven cases have been dropped. Investigations are under way in all other cases.

Polt told the delegation that Hungary is an active participant in Eurojust’s work and the international investigating team coordinated and financed by Eurojust.

Commenting on plans about the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, he said strengthening Eurojust and expanding the use of the Eurojust team could offer an effective alternative, the statement said.

Source: MTI