Pre-trial detention sought against park-maintenance fraud suspects
The Central Investigative Prosecutor's Office has sought imprisonment for multiple Budapest politicians in connection with a company network that has been manipulating public procurement tenders for decades.
Pre-trial detention sought against park-maintenance fraud suspects
The Central Investigative Prosecutor's Office (KNYF) has sought the imprisonment of multiple politicians in a Budapest green space management case – as reported by Telex.
Among those named are Gergely Őrsi, the current leader of Budapest's second district, and his predecessor, Fidesz politician Zsolt Láng. Along with them, Péter Puskás, chairman of the Óbuda Fidesz, and two Momentum office-holders, Tünde Szkaliczki and Károly Matisz, could face imprisonment.
The suspicion centres on a business network that has dominated Budapest park maintenance tenders for more than twenty years. The companies either bid independently or in consortiums, but the winner was almost always the same group. Overlapping ownership structures lay behind the scenes, meaning revenue circulated within the network regardless of political affiliation.
The prosecution already conducted a similar operation in March, when four individuals were taken in. The investigation was thought to have been concluded in the autumn last year, but it later continued. Now further arrest warrants have been submitted.
In this case, both ruling party and opposition municipal authorities may be involved.
Source: 444