Suspects in NKA scandal to remain in custody for another month
The Miskolc Court of Appeal upheld the first-instance decision, meaning six people involved in the NKA scandal will remain in pre-trial detention for a further thirty days.
Suspects in NKA scandal to remain in custody for another month
The second-instance court has confirmed the first-instance decision placing six suspects in pre-trial detention – according to Telex.
The Kecskemét District Court had previously ordered their detention. Among the defendants are Balázs Bús, former deputy president of the National Cultural Fund, Attila Ughy, former adviser to the Lechner Knowledge Centre, two other board members, as well as the director and head of cabinet of the National Cultural Support Administrator (NKTK). The police apprehended them at the end of June.
According to the prosecution, the decision-making body of the cultural fund grossly violated legal regulations from December last year onwards. They made decisions on a total of 1,079 applications to transfer funds, with the support amount exceeding 17 billion forints. According to investigators, this constitutes particularly serious harmful breach of duty.
The financial police previously stated that the majority of the support decisions did not follow the required legal procedure. The applications were not evaluated on the basis of professional criteria; the winners were pre-selected. Numerous organisations that had no actual activities received millions.
Balázs Hankó, the minister heading the cultural affairs ministry, called the arrests a political attack. According to him, the supported programmes were selected in accordance with the legislation. The investigation, however, is ongoing, and the suspects remain in custody.
Source: 444