Police investigation launched into settlement bond scheme
Police have initiated an investigation into the settlement government bond programme. Transparency International filed a complaint alleging breach of trust.
Investigation into settlement bonds
Police have launched an investigation into the settlement government bonds case, the authority confirmed to 444, as also reported by Telex. Transparency International Hungary filed a complaint alleging breach of trust causing particularly significant financial damage to the state.
The complaint was submitted at the end of July by Miklós Ligeti, the organisation's former legal director, who has since been appointed Constitutional Court judge. The document was initially sent from the prosecutor general's office to the Central Investigative Prosecutor's Office, and from there to the Capital Investigation Office. In mid-August, the authority ordered the complaint to be supplemented, but an investigation has now been initiated.
The settlement bond programme was initiated by Antal Rogán in 2012: based on the proposal at the time, third-country nationals could obtain Hungarian settlement permits for 250–300 thousand euros. The programme was typically conducted by offshore companies of unknown background, which according to Transparency's calculations could have recorded profits of 60 billion forints from public funds at the exchange rates of that period. Meanwhile, the state lost money on the transaction over its entire term.
Until its termination in 2017, intermediary companies sold 6,621 bonds, with a total of 19,855 foreign nationals obtaining Hungarian settlement permits, which provided free movement within the Schengen area.
Source: Telex