Court detains former minister Miklós Seszták in 11 billion forint bribery case
The Budapest Central District Court has ordered the detention of Miklós Seszták, a KDNP parliamentary representative, for 30 days. The National Asset Recovery and Property Protection Authority (NVVH) suspects the former national development minister of accepting official bribes.
Court detains Miklós Seszták for 30 days
The investigating judge of the Budapest Central District Court has ordered the detention of Miklós Seszták for 30 days – rtl.hu reported following Wednesday's hearing, citing a spokesman for the Metropolitan Court of Justice. The parliamentary representative of the Christian Democratic People's Party (KDNP) and former national development minister is suspected by the National Asset Recovery and Property Protection Authority (NVVH) of accepting official bribes.
According to the court's reasoning, there are well-founded grounds to assume that Seszták would tamper with witnesses, conceal evidence or destroy it. Therefore, for the time being, a less severe coercive measure than detention is not sufficient. The decision, however, also establishes that this ground can only be maintained as long as the suspect has a genuine opportunity to interfere with the investigation – the NVVH must carry out investigation measures sensitive to this as soon as possible.
Monday: immunity suspended, then taken into custody
Parliament suspended Seszták's immunity on Monday – the politician himself asked Parliament's immunity committee to recommend this to representatives. Following the suspension, Seszták went in person to the Central Investigative Prosecutor's Office to testify, where he was then taken into custody. Anna Unger, the NVVH's chairwoman, announced that the politician is the first person taken into custody by the recently formed authority.
Immediately before being taken into custody, Seszták told 24.hu that in his assessment the conditions for detention do not apply in his case. "Detention has very objective conditions. I can say that in my case, certainly none of these conditions are present," he said. When asked whether he fears detention, he answered: "it's in the cards", but he trusts Hungarian justice.
Counsel: court rejected two grounds, filing appeal
Following the hearing, Gábor Papp, Seszták's defence counsel, told 24.hu that they had requested his client's detention on three grounds, of which the court rejected two. The court did not find well-founded the danger of flight or concealment, nor that Seszták would unlawfully interfere with the investigation of the case. The only ground that was maintained was the well-founded suspicion of endangering the evidence.
The lawyer indicated they had appealed the decision. Gábor Papp also drew attention to circumstances which he said were unusual in a criminal proceeding: the investigation files revealed that Seszták had been placed under surveillance as early as Monday morning – before the suspension of immunity. "Not only him," he said, "but his counsel as well." His own vehicle's registration number was also recorded, and even the fact that he had a meeting with a journalist from 24.hu was noted.
Gábor Papp proved by document in court that Seszták was taken into custody earlier than the relevant official notification appeared in the Hungarian Gazette. The court responded to this by stating that it does not examine the legality of the taking into custody, and the suspect's interrogation took place after the parliamentary decision was made public, so the defendant's participation in the proceeding was lawful.
11 billion forint bribery suspicion centring on Volánbusz
The investigation being conducted at the Central Investigative Prosecutor's Office examines Seszták's ministerial period, his activities between June 2014 and May 2018. The National Development Ministry then oversaw the Hungarian National Asset Management Ltd. (MNV), and the MNV exercised proprietary rights over Volánbusz Ltd.
According to the prosecutor's suspicion, Miklós Seszták and Norbert Szivek, the MNV's former chief executive, between 2015 and 2018 received more than 11 billion forint in unlawful advantage through a broker from representatives of companies in a contractual relationship with Volánbusz. Norbert Szivek and Dániel Jellinek, a billionaire also involved in the case, were arrested earlier.
The prosecutor also links another corrupt transaction to the former minister: a representative of a corporate group engaged in construction investments allegedly offered that in return for anticipated state contracts, he would refund 10 per cent of each investment's contractor fee to Seszták through a broker.
According to the prosecutor, the evidence gathered so far can be used to establish against Seszták seven counts of accepting bribes committed by an official in a leading position, abusing his official position, in conspiracy and in a commercial manner, as well as six counts of accepting bribes committed as an accomplice.
Background: broader corruption investigation into Volán companies
The case has as its background an earlier corruption and money-laundering investigation affecting Volán companies. By early September, the National Investigation Office (NNI) had already interrogated eight persons as suspects in the case, which allegedly caused some 10 billion forint in property damage. Two months earlier a separate investigative task force was set up; searches were conducted at the suspects' premises, and documents, invoices, telephones and computers were seized.
According to the NNI's statement, Szivek, as the former chief executive of the MNV, possessed information which could be used to invest criminal proceeds into real estate, expensive cars through feigned loan agreements and companies, and withdraw them in cash. When the investigation brought into the authorities' sight a person against whom proceedings fell within prosecutorial jurisdiction, the NNI began cooperation with the Central Investigative Prosecutor's Office.
Seszták's name had emerged even before the prosecutor's accusation. Businessman and civil investigator Ferenc Galgóczy previously stated that in his assessment a Volánbusz subcontractor paid 125 million forint per month in corrupt money, whose possible recipients could have been Miklós Seszták and Norbert Szivek. Galgóczy also claimed that he himself paid 20,000 euros per month as "protection money" through a broker so that his former company, which handled ground handling at Budapest Ferenc Liszt International Airport, could maintain its contractual positions.
Source: Google News HU — Crime (hu)