The European Union’s anti-corruption body has denied information widely reported in the press, including on Hungary Today, suggesting that it is launching proceedings concerning an EU-funded narrow-gauge railway line associated with Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.
OLAF, the EU’s anti-corruption agency, told the Hungarian news portal Mandiner.hu that they are currently merely assessing whether there is sufficient information suggesting fraud, corruption or other illegal activity concerning the HUF 850 million project. A decision on launching the procedure will be made only after this initial phase, they claimed, while emphasising that an investigation does not necessarily imply that those concerned are guilty of any wrongdoing.
Recently, the British Daily Telegraph newspaper reported that the European Union is launching an enquiry concerning the nostalgia railway line opened recently which connects Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s two childhood home villages west of Budapest after the project was reported by Benedek Jávor, an MEP for a small Hingarian left-wing opposition party, to the EU’s anti-corruption authority.
The narrow-gauge railway, running between Mr. Orbán’s childhood village of Felcsút – where he maintains a holiday home – and Alcsútdoboz, six kilometres south, was inaugurated by the Prime Minister on 30 April 2016.
via mandiner.hu
photo: mno.hu