The money was there, but the Viennese baroque furniture disappeared

The Szekszárd District Court found a man guilty of the crime of fraud committed in a business-like manner, of a larger value, and sentenced him to 2 years and 3 months in prison, 250 days’ service, a fine of HUF 375,000 in total, and a 3-year ban from public affairs, and also ordered that his suspended sentence of 1 year and 2 months in prison implementation. The defense filed an appeal against the verdict, primarily for an acquittal, and secondly for the mitigation of the sentence, so the hearing of the case continued in the second instance at the Szekszárd District Court.

About its details, dr. Press secretary János Bajusz said that the victim bought a small Viennese baroque sideboard, the accompanying Viennese baroque table with four Viennese baroque chairs, and a pewter pink and white kitchen cabinet. Their total value is HUF 230,100. The furniture was in a rather bad condition, so the victim decided to have it repaired by a specialist and contacted the accused, who had a degree in furniture making.

The man agreed to restore the furniture for HUF 700,000 by December 20, 2017, and to help sell it. The victim first handed over HUF 600,000 to the accused, and later transferred another HUF 100,000 to the man’s daughter’s account, then he also handed over HUF 150,000 for the restoration of the German tin kitchen cabinet, and transferred another 200,000.

The defendant did not complete the agreed work by the deadline, but kept promising the victim that he would do it, and the sale of the furniture is also in progress. On the other hand, he transported the furniture from the Budapest workshop to an unknown location, did not account for it either to the victim or to the authorities, while he spent the HUF 1,50,000 he received as an advance for his own purposes. Even when the agreement was concluded, the man had no intention of carrying out the restoration. And although he hasn’t returned the furniture since then, in February 2023 he settled with the amount of money requested as an advance, and paid it back in several installments during the criminal proceedings.