Police investigate Fonyód city management director and relative over suspected irregularities worth 150–300 million forints
Police detained the managing director of Fonyód's city management company and a relative on Monday on suspicion of illegal invoicing. According to nepszava.hu, the investigation concerns the 2019–2024 municipal cycle.
Detentions and investigation in Fonyód: suspicion of unlawful payments at city management company
Police detained the managing director of Fonyód City Development and City Management Non-profit Public Benefit Ltd. (FVFVÜ) and one of his relatives on Monday, according to nepszava.hu, information confirmed by the investigating authority. According to the publication, former Fidesz mayor of the Lake Balaton town Józsefet Hidvégi was also taken in by police later, although this was not confirmed by official sources. Hidvégi did not answer his telephone, nor was his successor, Fidesz mayor Barnabás Erdei, available on his mobile or at the town hall.
The investigation is based on suspicion of illegal invoicing and payments. According to nepszava.hu's information, the proceedings rest on a well-founded suspicion of multiple criminal offences – embezzlement, fraud and breach of trust. The Somogy County Police Headquarters confirmed to the publication that the criminal directorate is indeed conducting criminal proceedings, but citing the ongoing nature of the proceedings, it provided no further information. The county prosecutor's office likewise cited protection of the effectiveness of the proceedings and made no substantive statement. According to the publication, initiating detention for certain individuals involved is also possible, on which the court would need to decide within 72 hours.
Background: raids and complaints
Nepszava.hu reported last June that police searched the FVFVÜ building and took away several box-loads of documents. Previously, in spring, investigators had appeared at the company several times, when they took only photocopies of documents. According to the publication's sources in Fonyód, at least three complaints were filed with police regarding the company's financial management, with the investigation focusing on the 2019–2024 municipal cycle, that is, Hidvégi's final term as mayor.
At the urging of opposition representatives, the Fonyód council established a temporary investigative committee to scrutinise the company, but forming the committee met with significant resistance from city leadership. Hidvégi, who headed Fonyód for 18 years, did not run again in 2024; his successor was his former deputy and party colleague Barnabás Erdei. The new council included seven opposition representatives and just a single government-party member, with Hidvégi himself losing his council seat.
The original 7:2 opposition advantage had shifted to 4:5 by autumn 2024 after three representatives – including the only opposition city councillor from the previous cycle – began voting with the government-party members. Thus, on several occasions they rejected the opposition proposal directed at scrutinising the city companies and municipality. Eventually the opposition offered to carry out the work free of charge, which became politically risky to reject; the committee was formed in early 2025 with four opposition and one formerly opposition representative.
The committee and the closed session
The investigative committee's findings were discussed in a closed session by the council at the end of last year – nepszava.hu first reported on this. The council ultimately rejected the committee's report: opposition representatives voted in favour, whilst Fidesz–KDNP representatives and those who sided with them voted against or abstained. Thus the committee's precise findings remain officially unknown.
150–300 million forints in questionable payments
According to information obtained by nepszava.hu, approximately 150–300 million forints in municipal payments may have been questionable during Hidvégi's final term. The publication's sources named the former mayor and the city management director's relatives as principal beneficiaries. The 64-year-old mayor's father-in-law, wife and son, through a company that has since ceased operations, collectively received more than 100 million forints for green space maintenance and other tasks. The city management company director's partner received 20 million forints annually for beach operations, as well as millions of forints more for green space maintenance and other tasks; his daughter provided legal advice to the FVFVÜ management for 80,000 forints per month – in other words, to her own mother.
According to the publication's information, some of the contracts and invoices in question consistently concerned amounts just under five million forints, the rest hovering just below one million forints. The two thresholds were not coincidental: items exceeding five million forints must be brought before the council by the mayor, whilst one million forints is the upper limit of the managing director's independent decision-making authority.
Reactions of those involved
Nepszava.hu approached mayor Erdei Barnabás last summer and asked whether he knew of the contracts and payments, whether he had taken steps regarding possible suspension of the company director, and why the municipality had not approached the authorities. The mayor avoided giving a substantive answer: he said he had been informed of the proceedings by the company director, but had not received official notification from the authorities, and therefore did not consider the questions asked to be relevant. Hidvégi was still reachable at that time; after learning what the enquiry concerned, he said: "There must be some mistake, I don't think anything like that happened."
Source: Google News HU — Crime (hu)