Hungarian Conservative

The investigation into the Brussels corruption scandal, which has been ongoing for more than a year with left-wing MEPs at its centre, could be jeopardized, as revealed by a recently released audio recording.

In February 2020, the Central Chief Prosecution Office of Investigation pressed charges against two leaders of a Northern Hungarian district office for corruption offences. The officials had requested a bribe of four million forints from the director of a company involved in a highway construction project to unlawfully influence the land office procedure in the second half of 2018.

In his interview with Richard Quest, Péter Szijjártó asked the rhetorical question: ‘Do you think all this would be possible if there were systemic corruption? Because if there is systemic corruption, there is no growth, investors do not come, and they do not bring their money here.’

By law, the Anti-Corruption Task Force prepares a report by 15 March each year and submits it to the government, which discusses the proposals within two months. If a proposal is rejected, the government informs the task force’s chairman of the reasons for its decision. This year’s full document will soon be available on kormany.hu.