Leaders of public catering company suspected of bribery in corruption case
Investigators conducted a search at one of Hungary's largest canteen operating company groups; the owner and managing director were also questioned.
Leaders of public catering company suspected of bribery in corruption case
Investigators from the Central Prosecution Office have conducted searches in recent days at a nationally known public catering company group and seized items. According to information from Telex, the owner and director of the company named Hungast were questioned as suspects in a corruption investigation spanning multiple districts.
According to the prosecution's previous statement, the criminal case has multiple branches. In one part, contracts for park maintenance work were at the centre of the investigation, where an entrepreneur allegedly paid back amounts worth hundreds of millions of forints to local politicians. According to the other branch, a director of a catering service company group offered money to municipal decision-makers in a similar manner, involving intermediaries, so they would obtain contracts on favourable terms. A public figure from Pécs is also involved in this line of inquiry.
Based on news published in the press, investigators questioned Gy. Tamás, the majority owner of the company group, and H. Csaba, the business manager. The companies of Hungast provide catering services to municipal institutions in districts II and III of the capital, as well as in Pécs. The company group is present in numerous hospitals and schools, and has acquired several competitors in recent decades.
According to the suspicion, a man named Z. Zsolt filled the role of intermediary, who was already taken into custody in 2024 in a public finance fraud case. The charge is that he transmitted money to politicians on behalf of both the park maintenance and catering businesses.
Telex journalists contacted the company group and the owner, but received no response. The investigating authority declined to confirm the specific names, citing the protection of personal data.
Source: Telex
Source: Telex