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On Tuesday, several pro-government portals published the news claiming Momentum MEP Katalin Cseh could be the politician, who through their company and other associated companies, could have won several billion forints in EU funding and hundreds of millions of forints in public procurement. Katalin Cseh says these allegations are mere lies and promised to take appropriate legal action against them.
The story was first picked up by the pro-government bennfentes.net after two videos were obtained by their editorial team in which a person wearing an Anonymous mask promises to expose a “two-faced opposition politician.”
No specific names are mentioned in the videos, only that a politician’s company and other associated companies have won HUF 4.5 billion in EU funding and HUF 300 million in public procurement.
Using Hungary’s company database and official tender website, the portal concludes the person in question is likely to be Katalin Cseh, the MEP of the opposition party Momentum.
The website’s investigation led to Pannónia Nyomda Kft., which was founded by Cseh’s father in 2010, and the Momentum politician was its managing director between 2013 and 2018.
According to the article of bennfentes.net, the company once won a European Union tender for more than HUF 68 million (EUR 190,000) to develop holographic technology, and later won around HUF 217 million (EUR 606,000) to develop a holographic spatial description language and a digital holographic printer.
The article also tries to link several companies to Pannónia Nyomda Kft. that are registered at the same address in Vác as the one where Pannónia Nyomda Kft. won the EU grant of almost HUF 70 million. According to bennfentes.net’s calculations, the total amount of funding won by the companies mentioned is almost HUF 4.8 billion (EUR 1,34 million).
“Those in the Fidesz propaganda factory have put their heads together and produced a piece of writing that can hardly be called defamatory. They talk about a politician who rakes in billions and alleged corruption, which is a lie,” Katalin Cseh said on Facebook in reaction to the accusations.
According to the Momentum politician, “the propaganda media” simply added up all the EU subsidies received by each and every company and business registered in the same industrial park, where the printing office her father used to run is located.
Cseh says that it is clearly evident from the company documents that she resigned from the management of the company years ago, long before entering politics.
“Fidesz and its propaganda are bothered by my anti-corruption efforts, but they can’t intimidate me. I will take the necessary legal action in this matter,” Cseh concluded her post. She later confirmed to Telex that she will launch lawsuits.
Featured photo by Szilárd Koszticsák/MTI