Hungarian police’s decision about the allegedly overpriced Chinese ventilators bought by Orbán
Law enforcement investigators have rejected a complaint by opposition Democratic Coalition concerning Chinese ventilators, a party lawmaker said on Friday.
Zoltán Varga told an online press conference that DK had reported to the police suspected misappropriation after a press report showed that the government had transferred over 4 billion forints (EUR 10.1m) in an advance payment for 749 Chinese ventilators.
Varga, who is also the head of parliament’s public welfare committee, said that the ventilators would now be auctioned off “at a fraction of their price, for a few cents”. He added that the police had made the “ridiculous” claim that the auctioning of ventilators only showed that ministry was acting in a responsible manner when it came to handling public monies.
Socialists sue Audit Office
The Socialists are taking legal action against the State Audit Office (ÁSZ), saying the auditor nefariously ordered the party to pay a fine for allegedly accepting illegal campaign financing before the 2022 parliamentary elections, the opposition party said on Friday.
The auditor said in its report released on Feb 20 that parties in the opposition alliance, including the Socialists, were engaged in illegal campaign financing before the general election.
It accused the parties of illegally accepting more than 261 million forints (EUR 671,200) from abroad via the Hungary Belongs to Everybody (MMM) movement, and ordered them to pay the entire sum, shared equally, to the central budget within 15 days.
The Socialists accused the auditor of taking “political orders”, calling the report “a baseless document” which flouted the rule of law.
The party rejected the charge that it had accepted illegal financing, adding that it had published a full account of its campaign budget in the official Hungarian Gazette. It had also kept to campaign spending limits, it added.
The ruling Fidesz party was attempting to “immobilise the democratic opposition parties using ÁSZ with just three months left until the municipal and EP elections,” the party said in a statement.
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