Out of all the cases OLAF brought to the attention of Hungary’s authorities between 2019 and 2023, two charges were brought, while an investigation into a third case was terminated.
The office said in a statement that Hungarian authorities brought charges in 75% of the cases initiated by OLAF between 2018 and 2022, more than twice the EU average of...
István Hollik accused the family’s company of using EU funding “to develop software they’d had for a long time; they simply pocketed EU money.”
Hungary prosecutes 67 percent of the cases investigated by the European Union’s anti-fraud body OLAF, close to twice the European Union average of 37 percent.
What’s particularly conspicuous in this latest article is the blatant bias in the reporting.
The Hungarian government believes that this may be the most significant abuse of EU funds since the end of communism
There’s no such thing as a presumption of innocence when it comes to charges of corruption and allegations of misuse of EU funds in Hungary – at least for much of the media. Their negative bias compromises their journalistic integrity, and when news and information counters their narrative, they simply ignore it.
OLAF had reviewed 400 billion HUF in concluded Metro 4 contracts and found inconsistencies in 272 billion HUF (880M EUR) worth of work. There were indications of five possible crimes at a total value of 166 billion HUF (540M EUR), and the EU is asking for the repayment of 59 billion HUF (192M EUR)
The EU has determined major discrepancies with relation to eight contracts concluded between 2003 and 2009. This is the second largest sum that Hungary must repay following the corruption scandal relating to the Metro 4 project
The Prime Minister’s Office has launched an investigation to determine whether the alleged misappropriations also concerned government money contributed to the metro 4 project
Gábor Demszky's lawyer said the former mayor would cooperate with any investigation and has nothing to hide
Mayor István Tarlós has called it “unfortunate” that the report concerning suspected corruption has not yet been published
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