Contracts awarded to an engineering company to construct the Budapest metro four line are being investigated, it has been revealed.
The central investigating chief prosecutor’s office (KNYF) is conducting a full-scale investigation into the case concerning French engineering company Alstom’s contracts for the Budapest metro, based on recommendations by Europe’s anti-fraud office OLAF, the chief prosecutor has said.
According to MTI, OLAF launched a probe into the case in February 2012, in which a criminal investigation had been started by Hungary’s bureau of investigation in January 2011 on charges of fraud.
OLAF submitted its report with recommendations to the Hungarian chief prosecutor in November last year which was then referred to the KNYF. The Hungarian authority had questioned several suspects in connection with the case in October 2016, and the deadline for the KNYF to conclude its investigation is April 3 this year.
It was announced on Monday that around 167 billion HUF worth of damages had been identified by OLAF in connection with Budapest’s fourth metro construction project, and the European Commission could levy a fine on Hungary of 76.6 billion HUF.