Gov't commissioner for Roma relations Attila Sztojka can be heard offering working contracts for Roma representatives who "are in the circle" in exchange for political and professional performance.Continue reading
Police say no crime was committed in the land deal of Győr’s former Fidesz mayor Zsolt Borkai’s lawyer that had resulted in him receiving a fabulous profit. According to allegations, Zoltán Rákosfalvy may have known of Audi’s plans of extension, therefore he bought up the lands in question, reclassified it with the help of Borkai, then sold it to the car manufacturer bagging a profit of HUF 5,5 billion (EUR 15.2 million) and causing damages to the local government.
The case has (re)made it to the agenda following Zsolt Borkai’s sex scandal that eventually cost the Olympic champion gymnast his political career. As we previously reported, the ‘Devil’s Advocate’ blog, besides publishing the sex tapes, also made corruption allegations against Borkai and the other individuals involved, although without proof. However, these allegations didn’t come out of nowhere, as they had been well published by numerous investigative journalists in connection with Borkai and his dealings as the wealthy western city’s leader.
According to the allegations, Zsolt Borkai had informed local, influential lawyer and ally of his, Zoltán Rákosfalvy (who also took part in Borkai’s infamous boat trip), about Audi’s plan for extending its plant with plans to buy up several lands in the area. Rákosfalvy is then said to have bought up all the lands in question for a total of HUF 1.5 billion (EUR 4.2 million today). Allegations also claimed that Borkai may have helped to reclassify the actual plots.
Rákosfalvy then sold them to the German car giant for a total of HUF 7 billion (EUR 19.4 million today). According to the charges, the deal also caused serious material damage to the local government of Győr. Rumors claimed that at one point an Audi official even told his Hungarian partners that “in Germany, you go to jail for a deal like this.”
Several charges were made in connection with the case. Now defunct liberal Együtt’s former leader Péter Juhász even suspected that Borkai may have hidden the money in the Maldives committing money-laundering.
Now the police’s reasoning says that at the time of the deals (in 2011) Rákosfalvy couldn’t have known of Audi’s plans adding that the municipality acted in accordance with the rules of trust applicable to it in the sale.
One among the several charges was filed by independent MP Ákos Hadházy, which, however, rather focused on Zsolt Borkai’s son’s involvement and a potential pay-out.
Ádám Borkai had officially been employed for years as a director in a company registered in Luxembourg. While the firm was officially headed by a local lawyer, the company’s Hungarian representative was the aforementioned Rákosfalvy, and its seat was also registered in the lawyer’s office’s address. In that capacity, the former footballer has been earning some HUF 1 million (EUR 2,770) a month.
According to Hadházy, the police’s investigation also confirmed (besides press investigations) that the company had no detectable activities for years. Police, however, said that the embezzlement couldn’t be proven (Hadházy suspected that this was a way for Rákosfalvy to settle the bill for the mayor for the help in the deals). But even if so, Ádám Borkai should have been charged anyway for taking the money without doing any work, argues the lawmaker, who also suggests the police’s investigation wasn’t appropriately thorough.
featured image: Zsolt Borkai earlier; via Zsolt Szigetváry/MTI