Capital bribery case suspects remanded in custody
Multiple politicians and businesspeople have been held in custody in a Budapest district corruption case where they allegedly shared illicit funds over several years.
Capital bribery case suspects remanded in custody
The court has ordered the detention of Gergely Őrsi, the current mayor of District II, and Zsolt Láng, his predecessor in the same position. Zsolt Molnár, the former party director and ex-parliamentary representative of the MSZP, has also been taken into custody. Among the suspects are Péter Puskás, leader of the Fidesz in Óbuda, two public figures from Momentum, and two businesspeople.
According to information from the Central Prosecution Office, the owner of a private company regularly provided unlawful benefits to Péter Puskás, who was then deputy mayor of District III. Puskás retained the larger share of the money and passed the remainder to Gergő Ceglédy, the MSZP's local representative. According to the arrangement, the ruling-party politician received seventy per cent and the opposition politician thirty per cent. After a change in district leadership, the proportions were reversed.
According to prosecutors, the businessman also provided money to Tünde Szkaliczki, who reviewed contracts for park maintenance, in order to silence her criticism. Károly Matisz, the party director of Momentum at the time, assisted in this arrangement. The company owner separately approached Matisz to persuade other representatives.
The seventy-thirty per cent split has long been the subject of rumour in Hungarian public life. According to speculation, the two major parties agreed from years before the system change, at least since 1998, to divide sums derived from governmental backroom agreements in this proportion. The Central Prosecution Office has now confirmed this mechanism in a concrete case.
The news was reported by 444.hu.
Source: 444