The second best-known Hungarian in France causes public outrage

A lawsuit has been brought against a mayor with Hungarian origins with charges of corruption and tax fraud, as Hvg.hu reports.

The public outrage towards the Hungarian Balkany was caused by the fact that he gave himself a 56pc salary raise as the mayor of Levallois-Peret, a city near Paris. For a long time, he has been the mayor of the small town, but at the same time has also been a member of the French Parliament.

The mayor with Hungarian descent has a friendly relationship with Nicolas Sarkozy, the best-known Hungarian-French who is famous for his corruption.

Just like Balkany, Sarkozy also started his career as a mayor of one of the most expensive small French town, Neuilly. The two men share one more similar feature: their lean towards corruption. It was partly due to Balkany’s behaviour that a new law was enacted in France, which initiated the notion that it should not be allowed that a mayor is a member of the Parliament at the same time.

However, the changed legal background came in handy for the Hungarian married couple to try to stay “invisible” from the investigations that aim to discover their financial background.

The investigations started in 2013, and it turned out that the Balkanys have a whole financial empire consisting of numerous offshore companies in Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Singapore, the Seychelles-islands and Panama. Based on allegations, the influential mayor used these offshore accounts for his savings which he got through corruption.