Gyula Budai filed a report on suspicion of official bribery, because according to his information, a large part of the one and a half billion forints “pumped out” from the Chain Bridge renovation could have landed at the City Hall headed by Gergely Karácsony.
The perpetrators of the bridge money scandal can expect severe, long-term imprisonment if the court convicts those involved, reports the Mandiner. Officials in the case have not yet been questioned as suspects, but if the investigation is initiated based on Gyula Budai’s complaint, it will obviously be clarified whether any left-wing politician received any of the money “saved” from the Lánchíd investment.
If it turns out that they have corrupted left-wing politicians, it would be an acceptance of official bribery, which can be punishable by up to ten years. Regarding Budai’s complaint, we contacted the police to see if an investigation had been ordered, but we have not yet received an answer.
An insider can help the authorities
Remember, the Fidesz politician turned to the National Investigation Agency (NNI) after receiving a letter from a source with knowledge of the bridging money scandal. The letter stated that Vig Mór, a former lawyer suspected of budget fraud, went to the office of the security company located at the Mammut shopping center to “account” for the amount pumped out of the Lánchíd investment and then withdrawn in the form of cash. According to the letter writer, Vig only discussed this with the head of the company.
It follows from all this that the one and a half billion forints transferred by A-Híd Zrt. to the ex-lawyer could have changed hands here. According to Budai, the security company is in contact with A-Híd Zrt., which is carrying out the renovation. The representative noted that the letter writer knows that significant sums of money went to the left wing of the capital from the bridge money.
As we have already written, based on the address data, the security company can be no other than Lövőház utca 7–9. Árgus-Security Vagyonvédelmi Kft. One of the owners of the security company is Endre Zoltán Apáthy, and his father is none other than Endre Apáthy, whose family interests include A-Híd Zrt.
If the claims of the insider’s letter writer are true, the money “saved” from the Lánchíd investment could have returned to the ownership of A-Híd, which carried out it. From there, according to the letter writer, the sums ended up at the Budapest City Hall.
Bridge money scandal
Incidentally, the main character of the bridge money scandal is Mór Vig, who is the brother of Amnesty leader Dávid Vig and who was detained and then arrested last November after falling into a multi-hundred million invoice factory.
In the case, NAV conducted house searches at several locations and seized money. In the framework of the procedure, among other things, they contacted Dániel Hegedüs, a lawyer, and A-Híd Zrt., which is carrying out the renovation of the Chain Bridge.
Suspicious references
It was later revealed that between November 2020 and July 2022, A-Híd transferred HUF 1.4 billion to Vig’s company, the aforementioned Sunstrike Hungary Kft. HUF 900 million of this amount was transferred to Mór Vig’s private account and his lawyer’s escrow account. According to the suspicion, the transfers to the accounts linked to Vig Mór typically took place on the same days as the days on which the funds from A-Híd Zrt. arrived at Sunstrike Kft., and the amounts were withdrawn in cash from the accounts within a short time.
Five hundred million landed with another lawyer
In the end, a mistake crept into the well-functioning machine, as Mór Vig, who was linked to several other crimes, was banned from practicing law in January 2022 due to a final judgment. After that, Hegedüst was also involved in the transactions, who transferred the remaining amount to Sunstrike Hungary Kft. to his own lawyer’s escrow account, and then withdrew approximately five hundred million forints in cash from there.
It is important to emphasize that all these transactions were preceded by an incomprehensible increase in the price of the investment. In 2019, after the change of power, the Karácsonys announced a new public procurement procedure for the Lánchíd investment. The winner was A-Híd, but at the same time they won with a bid five billion forints more expensive than what they would have paid for the work in the Tarlós era.
In addition to the multibillion-dollar price increase (26.8 billion gross instead of 21.8 billion gross), the advance payment to the contractor was increased almost sixtyfold, to 4.2 billion forints, compared to the project under Tarlós, while the penalty imposed on the company was halved.
Karácsony’s defense failed
Kehi also launched an investigation into the case, and a few days ago it published its partial report, in which it revealed significant financial transactions between A-Híd Zrt., which is renovating the Chain Bridge, and Vig Mór, the invoice manufacturer. The document crushes the defense of the Karácsony family: the capital’s left-liberal leadership has argued that there is no coincidence in time between the renovation and the dubious financial transactions. However, Kehi clearly pointed out that the entire HUF 1.5 billion was transferred from A-Híd to the ex-lawyer firm of the invoice manufacturer during the public procurement procedure, and HUF 1.3 billion after the conclusion of the construction contract.
Opening photo: MTI/Zoltán Máthé
Source: mandiner.hu
Tags: FRISSS .hu #…everything Szombathely surroundings Long years prison await leftwing beneficiaries bridge money scandal
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