Nyírkarász’s ruling party mayor told the police that Sándor Kovács, a Fidesz member of parliament, called him in and told him that his friend’s company must build the settlement’s market, otherwise they would not receive the EU money awarded for it. However, the investigation was dropped. The mayor just told our newspaper, “even though the police are busy here, they can’t do anything.”
The Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén county police canceled the investigation that was started in 2021 following the 24.hu article Sándor Kovács also concerning the Fidesz parliamentary representative (in our featured image). After we wrote that the company of the friend of the ruling party politician won a public procurement worth one billion forints in the region in a few years, the police Ákos Hadházy started investigating based on the report of an independent member of parliament.
The focus of the procedure with the qualification of the prohibition of the agreement restricting competition in the public procurement procedure was the public procurements won by the Nyírség tender company, GÉ-65 Mérnökiroda Kft., whose main profile is engineering activity and technical consulting. As we have presented, the company won 13 public procurements in settlements that belong to the constituency of Sándor Kovács. In addition, the company started as the only tenderer in the majority of public procurements of settlements led by Fidesz and independent mayors, whose owner, Csaba Galambosi he is not only a friend of the ruling party politician, he was a business partner of Kovács’ wife in another company. However, this business relationship was terminated shortly after the publication of our articles.
Although the police closed the investigation after almost three years of investigation, the investigators wrote remarkable statements in the decision closing the proceedings, confirming the contents of our articles. According to the Borsod police, “it was established from the public procurement documents that the municipalities of seven settlements located in a limited geographical area and the association (the Jót s Jól a Szatmári Kistérségben Association, which is still run by the wife of Sándor Kovács – ed.) for the implementation of their investments, with few exceptions, the same six economic companies were selected and invited to submit bids, of which
without exception, the offer of GÉ-65 Mérnökiroda Kft., which was mostly the only bidder, was chosen as the winner, the simultaneous and combined existence of which facts may indicate the coordinated behavior of economic actors (may indicate – the editor) or an agreement restricting competition in public procurement and concession procedures may raise the suspicion of a crime.
Based on the decision of the police, a substantive investigation was carried out, telephone wiretapping was carried out, and numerous witnesses were questioned in the case. Among them was the Fidesz mayor of Nyírkarász, which belongs to the Kovács constituency.
József Szalmási – who is again running for mayor this year as a Fidesz candidate – testified to the police that
Member of Parliament Sándor Kovács manipulated one of Nyírkarász’s public procurements for the benefit of his friend and essentially blackmailed him
in order for the company he selected to build the village’s farmers’ market.
In 2018, Nyírkarász applied for the construction of a local farmers’ market, for which it received HUF 50.5 million in European Union funds. As can be read in the police decision, the implementation of the project progressed with difficulty, as despite several tenders, GÉ-65 Mérnökiroda Kft., as well as four other companies, did not submit an offer. Szalmási therefore contacted a contractor who had previously done several successful construction jobs for the settlement, with whom he agreed that he would invite him to make an offer. The police decision continues as follows:
After that, Member of Parliament Sándor Kovács invited him to his office in Mátészalka for a meeting, at which the managing director Csaba Galambosi representing GÉ-65 Mérnökiroda Kft. was also present. . will be carried out, otherwise the Nyírkarás municipality will not receive the full amount of the European Union funds, which have been increased to 78 million forints due to inflation, and therefore the investment cannot be realized.
As stated in the police document published by Ákos Hadházy, according to Szalmási’s statement, he took note of Sándor Kovács’s communication and submitted that the bid of GÉ-65 Mérnökiroda Kft., which started alone, won the tender for the realization of the farmers’ market after the discussion, and their municipality obtained the required for European Union funding. The implementation of the investment, the method and results of the tendering process were also supported by the public procurement documents.
In addition, the police terminated the investigation despite the fact that during a wiretapped telephone conversation it was also recorded that Csaba Galambosi had agreed with the administrator of another municipality that their electronic correspondence would be permanently and irretrievably deleted from their mailboxes.
The police in Borsod concluded the investigation by saying that, as they wrote, the realization of the crime alleged by the informant is not ruled out by “the result of some of the procedural actions taken”. However, they added: “These are insufficiently precise, indicative of acts or individuals, regarding the extent and depth of the coordinated behavior or control aimed at the preparation of tenders and the selection of companies carrying out investments, and the persons participating in it, and such data could not be obtained during the procedure, even in the despite extensive evidence and the use of a covert device.”
Ákos Hadházy, who filed a complaint in the case, summarized what happened as follows:
Even the decision closing the investigation lists serious evidence as to why the Fidesz representative Sándor Kovács should have been in prison a long time ago. How much evidence could have ended up in the depths of some drawer… At the same time, I have to say that all my credit goes to the police in Borsod – but let all our contempt be upon those who ordered them to close the investigation despite the evidence.
He added that he will forward the decision to the European Anti-Fraud Office, OLAF and the Integrity Authority.
We contacted the mayor of Nyírkarász, József Szalmási, who started by asking the police whether it was fair or not that they closed the investigation. He said, he told me his position on the matter.
Even though 24.hu is working here, they can’t do anything. Not the police, not Hadházy, not you
– he said, then added: “Hadhazy can get it.”
We also asked him about his relationship with Sándor Kovács after what happened. The mayor said that they were good friends, this matter did not cause any problems between the two. We also asked him about his statements to the police, to which he replied:
Maybe I was drunk then.
We also contacted Sándor Kovács, a member of parliament, by phone and by letter, but he did not respond to our questions. Among other things, we asked him whether he did not think his procedure was threatening for the sake of his friend – and his wife’s business partner at the time. We also asked him whether he had acted in a similar manner towards other municipalities and mayors.
Tags: Fidesz mayor confessed Fidesz parliamentary representative police closed investigation
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