Völner denied the accusations. The prosecutor's office has so far interrogated 13 people in the case.Continue reading
In reaction to suspected national security aspects of former Deputy Justice Minister Pál Völner’s corruption case and government commissioner for Roma relations Attila Sztojka’s controversial statements, the opposition members of the Parliament’s Committee on National Security moved to call an extraordinary meeting, announced LMP’s Péter Ungár, MSZP’s Zsolt Molnár, and Jobbik’s János Stummer.
Former state secretary Pál Völner was accused of bribery roughly a month ago. In his case, the committee’s opposition members want to hear the leaders of both the Constitution Protection Office (AH) and the Central Chief Prosecution Office of Investigation (KNYF) who were in charge of the national security clearance of the Fidesz politician.
Actually, the Völner case has other relevance in regard to national security. In response to questions posed after the Pegasus case had been brought to light, Justice Minister Judit Varga claimed that it was Pál Völner’s duty to approve the surveillance initiatives of the relevant authoritative bodies.
In the other case, in leaked recordings, government commissioner for Roma relations Attila Sztojka’s words can be understood as that the Fidesz government expects loyalty from certain Roma politicians, in exchange for certain benefits. He also underscored multiple times that as an official of the Interior Ministry (BM), he “knows everything about everyone.” Now, lawmakers want to hear the Interior Ministry and the aforementioned Constitution Protection Office speak in connection with the case.
Although the seven-strong group is headed by Stummer, it has a Fidesz-KDNP majority. The ruling alliance has regularly chosen to boycott the Committee’s meetings (which would then lack quorum), when it was convened by the opposition members, which is certainly a likely option this time, too.
featured image: Pál Völner; image by Noémi Bruzák/MTI
