Socialists call on govt to pay out Quaestor compensation

Budapest, July 10 (MTI) – The opposition Socialist party called on the government and the central bank to compensate people who suffered losses from the bankrupted Quaestor brokerage firm.

“The money is available but the authorities are unwilling to pay,” Laszlo Szakacs, member of parliament’s budget committee, told a press conference. He said under an existing ruling by the top court client compensation is mandated by law.

Instead of dealing with compensation claims, “the central bank recently spent 200 billion forints (EUR 631m) on financing its own foundations and buying palaces and expensive artwork,” Szakacs said.

Government office chief Janos Lazar said on Thursday that banks, “led by OTP Bank, were blocking the possibility of one-off compensation”, given their appeals to the Constitutional Court. Until there is a ruling, the Investor Protection Fund can only make payments of up to 20,000 euros per client, to a total of 88 billion forints. But payments of 20,000 to 100,000 euros are pending approval from the top court, he said.

Photo: MTI

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