Three defendants pleaded guilty in the process concerning the business management of the state-owned firm (Bp2017 Ltd.), established for the organization of the FINA World Aquatics Championships. However, the prime suspect, the company’s business manager, Sándor Balogh, is still on the run.
According to the charges, private investigators were hired in order to obtain sensitive information from the Tax Authority (NAV). Two years ago, the National Protective Service (NVSZ) unearthed that private investigators had obtained information from certain registers, and traces led to Sándor Balogh. (Balogh was the husband of Andrea Mager, the incumbent minister without portfolio for managing national wealth, but they divorced long ago).
Balogh is suspected to have paid some HUF 35 million (EUR 101,000) to private investigators who were presumably assigned to find out what exactly NAV knew about him, as he was already under investigation for tax evasion worth HUF 587 million (EUR 1.7 million) in connection with the FINA World Aquatics Championships held in Budapest in 2017.
The prosecution suspects nine other people besides Balogh, having brought charges in June 2021 for abuse of office for unfair advantage, conspiracy, accepting bribes, and other offenses.
Sándor Balogh. Image by police.hu
One of the defendants was handed a suspended jail term with a fine, while the other two were fined for various roles in the crime. Sándor Balogh was not present at the hearing, as he fled abroad in 2019. There currently are six warrants issued against him, two for purchase of international influence, and one for budget fraud. The prosecution wants to see him in jail.
featured image via Zoltán Máthé/MTI