Former Gyömrő mayor convicted of tax fraud to run in by-election
Levente Gyenes has taken nomination forms for the 12 July by-election in Gyömrő. The politician was previously sentenced to a suspended prison term for tax fraud.
Levente Gyenes seeks mandate again in Gyömrő
Levente Gyenes, former mayor of Gyömrő, has collected the nomination forms required for the by-election in the municipal council – according to HVG. The by-election in the Pest County town will be held on 12 July in the third electoral district, after representative Hajnalka Takácsné Tóth resigned from her mandate.
In a Friday Facebook post, Gyenes wrote that his goal was to continue working for the residents of the district, and that he wished to meet as many voters as possible in the coming weeks to hear their views and suggestions. Only 18 nominations are required to run, since just 1,781 eligible voters live in the district.
The politician has a troubled legal history: the Szeged Court of Appeal sentenced him to nine months in prison suspended for two years for continuously committed tax fraud and the misdemeanor of falsifying a private deed. Following the verdict, he had to resign from his post as mayor, but Gyömrő residents re-elected him. A later court decision – which declared him unfit for office – did not break his resolve either: in 2019 he won the mayoral election again.
In a 2023 local television interview, Gyenes characterised his situation in the tax fraud case as that of a victim. At that time he said: "with a somewhat wry expression, but jokingly, I remarked that I had always wanted to walk the whole of the El Camino, I report that it happened, only this was an internal journey."
Source: HVG