Völner denied the accusations. The prosecutor's office has so far interrogated 13 people in the case.Continue reading
A recently obtained investigation report of Fidesz MP and former Deputy Minister of Justice Pál Völner’s suspected corruption case show that one of the key figures of the criminal proceeding used his connections to help several law students pass their exams. The students include a relative of Pál Völner and Minister Antal Rogán’s chief of staff.
News site 444.hu has acquired the more than 1,700-page investigation report concerning Fidesz MP and former deputy justice minister, Pál Völner, who is under investigation for alleged bribery and other crimes. The documents include transcripts of telephone conversations between the politician and a key figure of the criminal case, György Schadl, the President of the Hungarian Court Bailiff’s Chamber (MBVK).
The documents obtained by the site suggest many people have contacted György Schadl to help them pass exams needed for their law degree.
According to the telephone conversation transcripts, he readily complied with these requests: he helped bailiffs, relatives of bailiffs, and even Pál Völner.
Phone conversations from last year show that György Schadl used his contacts to aid one of Pál Völner’s relatives, a former law student at Pázmány Péter Catholic University, so that he wouldn’t “need to be nervous” at one of his final exams.
In a three-minute long conversation, the Fidesz politician also told Schadl which teacher would be proctoring the exam. The latter immediately offered to make a phone call and then called his friend who teaches at the Universities’ Faculty of Law. In another conversation on the phone, György Schadl then assured Pál Völner that “everything will be fine.” The Fidesz politician repeatedly thanked him for his help.
444.hu’s article also mentions Antal Rogán’s chief of staff, the minister of the PM’s Cabinet office, whose exam was also discussed by György Schadl on the phone. The prosecutor’s office, in its justification of the criminal proceedings against György Schadl and his accomplices, says the student was “not even present at the exam,” and according to information gathered during the investigation, even his exam registration through Hungary’s unified online education interface called Neptun was supposedly arranged by Schadl.
The corruption charges against Pál Völner hit headlines in early December. According to the prosecutor’s office, Völner had regularly received 2-5 million forints from György Schadl, the president of the Hungarian Chamber of Bailiffs, who was arrested in early November. In total, the former deputy minister and state secretary is said to have been paid HUF 83 million, among other perks in order to appoint certain persons as baillifs, all supported by Schadl.
After the story surfaced, the University of Pécs, where György Schadl also teaches, launched an investigation on suspicion of violation of professional ethics and examination regulations, the institution’s press office told 24.hu.
According to the acqired wiretap records, a teaching assistant from the University of Pécs and the head of the dean’s office are also involved. Since then the university has also suspended the teaching assistant’s right to proctor exams, who helped Antal Rogán’s chief of staff pass without an exam.
In the featured photo: Fidesz lawmaker Pál Völner. Photo by Tamás Kovács/MTI
