Four corruption investigations at education authority districts – national police initiate prosecution
The national police authority is currently conducting four education authority district corruption cases; the Tisza government's review of the Klebelsberg Centre has also revealed irregularities.
Educational authority corruption: four active police investigations, one case closed with prosecution recommendation
The National Police Headquarters (ORFK) is currently conducting investigations in four cases involving corruption in education authority district centres and schools – according to information cited by Index from an inquiry to Népszava. As recently as January this year, the police informed the newspaper of five ongoing cases; since then two cases have been consolidated and closed with a prosecution recommendation, whilst a new investigation has also been initiated on suspicion of accepting bribes.
The police provided no further details regarding investigations affecting the Inner-Pest Education Authority District Centre and the Fehérgyarmat institution, citing investigative interests.
Background: four cases closed out of nine proceedings
In January 2025, nine criminal proceedings were still in progress involving educational institutions and education authority district centres – including cases of abuse of office, embezzlement and breach of fiduciary duty. Four of these had been closed by January this year. The former head of economics at the Inner-Pest Education Authority District Centre was detained in April 2024: suspicion of corruption and material abuse emerged against her, in addition to drug possession. The headmaster of the Fehérgyarmat school was questioned by police in December 2024 on well-founded suspicion of embezzlement and breach of fiduciary duty.
Centralised system, concentrated risk
The education authority district centres were created following the centralisation of state public education in 2013, when the maintenance responsibilities of primary and secondary schools were removed from local municipalities and transferred to the Klebelsberg Institution Maintenance Centre that was established at that time. The system was restructured into its current form in 2017: since then, sixty education authority districts have managed schools, with the Klebelsberg Centre overseeing them. The institutions do not have independent budgeting authority – alongside wages, decisions on procurement, development and, in many cases, the acceptance of donations are made by the education authority district. Experts argue that this concentrated decision-making authority carries corruption risk.
Review: licensing system without legal authorisation
The Tisza government reviewed the operations of the education authority district centres and the Klebelsberg Centre in the summer of this year, and revealed several irregularities. According to findings presented by Index, the Klebelsberg Centre established a licensing system in the areas of financial, information technology and donation-related decisions for which it had no legal authorisation. Furthermore, it failed to establish adequate control mechanisms in either its own operations or in monitoring the budgeting of education authority districts, which increased financial and integrity risks. Some expenditures were in several cases covered from budgets allocated for wages.
The Ministry of Education and Child Affairs later promised to provide information on whether irregularities were also found in the operations of the education authority district centres during the review.
Source: Index