Prosecutors have requested the pre-trial detention of a man suspected of leading a criminal organisation operating in the security and guarding sector, in a tax fraud investigation involving more than HUF 9 billion (approximately EUR 24.6 million) in alleged damage to Hungary’s central budget. The National Tax and Customs Administration (NAV) confirmed that the suspect is the son of a former state secretary.
According to a statement from the Budapest Chief Prosecutor’s Office, the man ran a network of security companies and allegedly used the services of another criminal organisation operating a network of fictitious companies issuing fraudulent invoices. Together with his alleged accomplices, he is suspected of causing particularly significant financial damage to the state.
Investigators believe that between July 2019 and March 2023, the organisation registered employees who were actually working for the security companies as employees of fictitious companies belonging to the invoice-fraud network. The arrangement allegedly helped the businesses avoid paying taxes and other public charges.
NAV investigators questioned the man as a suspect on suspicion of budgetary fraud causing particularly significant financial damage, committed as part of a criminal organisation and as an instigator, as well as other offences.
Prosecutors seek pre-trial detention
The Budapest Chief Prosecutor’s Office requested the suspect’s pre-trial detention, arguing that his presence during the proceedings could only be guaranteed through the strictest coercive measure. Prosecutors also cited a realistic risk that he could obstruct the investigation or commit further offences.
A judge was expected to decide on the request on Thursday. The request itself does not mean that the suspect has been convicted or that pre-trial detention has already been ordered.
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58 suspects in wider invoice-fraud investigation
The case forms part of a much larger investigation into the alleged invoice-fraud network. NAV carried out searches at nearly 40 locations on Tuesday, taking 23 people into custody and questioning them as suspects. This brought the total number of suspects in the investigation to 58.
According to the tax authority, the alleged perpetrators caused more than HUF 9 billion in damage to the central budget. Authorities had previously secured assets worth approximately HUF 4 billion, with a further HUF 1.2 billion secured during Tuesday’s operation.
NAV also confirmed that the head of the security-sector organisation is the son of a former state secretary.
Prime Minister Péter Magyar wrote on Facebook on Tuesday that NAV’s MERKUR tactical unit had detained the son of a former state secretary under former Interior Minister Sándor Pintér. Magyar also said that investigators had searched a former company belonging to Pintér.
