In a personal interview with Direkt36, Seszt\u00e1k said that his acquaintance with B\u00f6rcs\u00f6k has nothing to do with his success. He added that as a lawyer he has met several other liquidators too. He also stressed that he does not take part in the issues of the state liquidation company. B\u00f6rcs\u00f6k said that the minister had nothing to do with his success. He claimed that Seszt\u00e1k did not play any role in why he received a series of assignments from the state liquidation company.<\/p>\n
The common past<\/strong><\/h2>\nThe relationship between Seszt\u00e1k and B\u00f6rcs\u00f6k started years ago. B\u00f6rcs\u00f6k said that he knows Seszt\u00e1k from the times when the minister worked as a lawyer, but he could not recall when and how their relation started. Based on publicly available documents in 2008 they already had several common projects, in April 2008 the company called Ford-T\u00e1pl in Kisv\u00e1rda, where Seszt\u00e1k\u2019s political and legal career started, employed B\u00f6rcs\u00f6k for the cessation of the company. Several public documents of Ford-T\u00e1pl contain the signature of both men. One document is about B\u00f6rcs\u00f6k requesting the legal assistance of Seszt\u00e1k.<\/p>\n
B\u00f6rcs\u00f6k and his company probably hoped for doing more business in Kisv\u00e1rda because they opened an office here in the same year. B\u00f6rcs\u00f6k\u2019s company called Economix rented an office from the real estate company, which was co-owned by Seszt\u00e1k\u2019s wife , Marianna Berecz-Seszt\u00e1k, and the rental contract documents also contain her signature. The record shows that B\u00f6rcs\u00f6k\u2019s company used the property as a “favour”, meaning they did not have to pay for it.<\/p>\n
![\"borcsok_eng\"](\"http:\/\/direkt36.exot.hu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/borcsok_eng.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nAnother link between B\u00f6rcs\u00f6k and Seszt\u00e1k is a group of companies known as the Ramiris group, dealing with the sale of cars, computers and other products. Even though according to company documents B\u00f6rcs\u00f6k and Seszt\u00e1k did not work in the companies at the same time, both of them were active in them at several occasions.<\/p>\n
Seszt\u00e1k was the legal representative of the Ramiris companies. Later, three of the companies were liquidated by firms linked to B\u00f6rcs\u00f6k. One of them is Ramiris Mobil where Seszt\u00e1k was not only the lawyer but previously he was also the business partner of the company\u2019s managers.<\/p>\n
Seszt\u00e1k, in an interview that took place in his conference room in the ministry, told Direkt36 that despite these links, he has not been in a close relation with B\u00f6rcs\u00f6k. Regarding the rental deal in Kisv\u00e1rda, he said that his wife\u2019s company did not check who the tenant was. Furthermore then there were only few real estate companies in Kisv\u00e1rda where offices could have been rented. Seszt\u00e1k also said that the real estate company was trying to attract more tenants during the economic crisis by offering a free trial period and that is why B\u00f6rcs\u00f6k\u2019s company did not have to pay for the rent. He said that B\u00f6rcs\u00f6k\u2019s company moved out after the trial period ended.<\/p>\n
Seszt\u00e1k claimed that during the cessation of Ford-T\u00e1pl his relation with B\u00f6rcs\u00f6k remained professional. He added that they did not meet during the liquidation of the Ramiris companies.<\/p>\n
B\u00f6rcs\u00f6k also called his relation with Seszt\u00e1k “strictly professional.” He said that it was just by chance that his company rented an office from the firm of Seszt\u00e1k\u2019s wife. B\u00f6rcs\u00f6k also mentioned that he liquidated several such companies which were not served by Seszt\u00e1k but other lawyers.<\/p>\n
The successful man<\/strong><\/h2>\nB\u00f6rcs\u00f6k\u2019s career started in 1995 in the company called Economix. He overtook the management of the company at the end of 2004, and today he owns more than 80 percent of the company\u2019s shares. The company gave up several activities during the past years, and its main profile has become liquidation.<\/p>\n
Even though B\u00f6rcs\u00f6k was described by one of his former colleagues as someone who really likes his job and as \u201ca clever negotiator, target-oriented person\u201d, his company closed several financial years in the 2000s without any profit. In 2009, after his company produced a loss of 7 million forints in the previous year, B\u00f6rcs\u00f6k complained to the shareholders that they were not receiving significant assignments and there is no value in the companies liquidated by them. \u201cThese indebted companies do not have wealth in them, maybe only on paper,\u201d he said, according to public documents. Company value is one of the most important indicators in the liquidation business because liquidators get 3 percent from the sold company assets.<\/p>\n
Then the tables turned, and B\u00f6rcs\u00f6k\u2019s company closed 2011 with the revenue of 16 million forints and profit of 1.5 million forints, and the year 2012 with an income of already 58 million and profit of 26 million forints.<\/p>\n
One of the deals that was behind the rise of B\u00f6rcs\u00f6k\u2019s company had political implications as well. In 2009, Economix won the liquidation of Balaton H\u00fasipar Ltd. The meat processing company was first bought by a bank, which in 2011 sold it to the Prime Minister\u2019s friend, the mayor of Felcs\u00fat, L\u0151rinc M\u00e9sz\u00e1ros. While in 2009 B\u00f6rcs\u00f6k advertised the meat processing company for 1.6 billion forints, in 2010 the price was lowered to 470 million forints. He explained the price decrease to Hvg.hu news site with the economic crisis. Public documents do not reveal the final selling price of the company , and M\u00e9sz\u00e1ros\u2019s company refused to tell the price. From the assets of the purchased meat processing company M\u00e9sz\u00e1ros created a new firm called Bakony H\u00fas Ltd., which last year made a profit of 205 million forints and which he then sold in June 2016.<\/p>\n
B\u00f6rcs\u00f6k\u2019s position strengthened significantly in 2014 when the liquidation rights were redistributed in a process organized by the government. Only those 130 companies can have licence for liquidation which were selected by the government in a tender. The applications were preliminarily evaluated by a committee led by Seszt\u00e1k, then a member of parliament. Several of the winning companies turned out to have good political connections. One of the firms is owned by Endre Hamar, a former business partner of Istv\u00e1n Tiborcz, the son-in-law of Prime Minister Viktor Orb\u00e1n.<\/p>\n
Even though the government promised to make sure that the licences will not be granted for a close circle, in the end the list of winners included several companies connected with each other. Apart from his own company, B\u00f6rcs\u00f6k is also linked to several other winners.<\/p>\n
his wife\u2019s company \u201cInsolvent\u201d also won, as did C\u00e9g-Controll, the company of one of his close colleagues. In the latter, B\u00f6rcs\u00f6k is currently working as a liquidator. A fourth liquidation company, F1 Consulting, has an office in a building that is owned by B\u00f6rcs\u00f6k and where his companies\u2019 offices are.<\/p>\n
F1 Consulting, currently based in Szigetszentmikl\u00f3s, was founded by B\u00f6rcs\u00f6k and his wife but was sold before the licensing tender at the end of 2012. We asked F1 Consulting why they opened an office after the sale of the company at the address where B\u00f6rcs\u00f6k\u2019s office is also located, but they did not respond. B\u00f6rcs\u00f6k was still employed by the company last year when he was the liquidator of a holiday resort in Si\u00f3fok, a town by lake Balaton.<\/p>\n
B\u00f6rcs\u00f6k\u2019s success did not go unnoticed in his professional circles. When the liquidators\u2019 association wanted to elect a new president after the governmental tender in 2014, many of its members wished to see B\u00f6rcs\u00f6k in this position and nominated him. One of the liquidators explained this by saying that in professional circles it was well-known that companies related to B\u00f6rcs\u00f6k performed well in the tender, thus several members came to the conclusion that he must have good governmental connections. \u201cSome of them thought that he may also help them with certain issues,\u201d he said. B\u00f6rcs\u00f6k explained the nomination with his professional past in the association and the network of contacts he built during his career. He wrote that he did not accept the position for family reasons.<\/p>\n
So, the same president was re-elected and B\u00f6rcs\u00f6k became only a member of the association\u2019s leadership.<\/p>\n
Billions go through his hands<\/strong><\/h2>\n\u00a0<\/strong>B\u00f6rcs\u00f6k might have refused to lead the association but he won a job with the state liquidation company last summer. The National Reorganisation Nonprofit (NRN) Ltd. was set up in 2012 by the government with the aim to liquidate \u201cstrategically important\u201d companies in case of their bankruptcy.<\/p>\nSix months after Seszt\u00e1k\u2019s ministerial appointment, the NRN\u2019s supervision was placed under his Ministry. The explanation was that after the 2014 parliamentary elections, which was won again by the governing Fidesz party, there were changes in the state assets management which made the ministerial supervision of several state companies necessary.<\/p>\n
Rules specifying which companies can be called strategically important are rather vague. A company implementing a \u201cproject with national economic importance,\u201d or which received a state loan or fulfils a public task could be listed as strategically important. Besides water or heat supply providers, high-value real estate companies and hotels were also named as strategically important by the government. Hotel Saliris in Egerszal\u00f3k, where one of the close business partners of L\u0151rinc M\u00e9sz\u00e1ros appeared as a service provider, was also listed as strategically important, thus its liquidation is being carried out by NRN as well.<\/p>\n
According to NRN\u2019s website, the state company has started the liquidation of 49 firms. This number may not seem high but the firms under liquidation have huge assets, 262 billion forints according to the calculations of Direkt36. The liquidation of 16 billion was already concluded, the rest is still ongoing. According to the association of liquidators, this is almost half of the total assets under liquidation.<\/p>\n
B\u00f6rcs\u00f6k\u2019s position is the strongest among the 13 liquidators of NRN. \u201cHe is also strategically important,\u201d an owner of a liquidation company said. According to our analysis, 41 percent of the 262 billion forints under liquidation is supervised by B\u00f6rcs\u00f6k. Well behind him are the other liquidators of NRN, including Jen\u0151 Varga, one of the most influential liquidators of the past two decades. Varga, for example, is responsible for the liquidation of the former Hungarian airlines Mal\u00e9v, which began in 2012. As described by one of his colleagues, he was previously the one \u201cblowing in the trade winds\u201d.<\/p>\n
This is now more and more true about B\u00f6rcs\u00f6k, who is overseeing the liquidation of 10 strategically important companies. He overtook the liquidation of ETO Park and the company which owns a football team in Gy\u0151r from Varga, and the liquidation of K\u00d6KI Termin\u00e1l and a logistical centre from other liquidators. He is also in charge of the liquidation of Budapest Chemical Works Company, known for its factory on Illatos Street, the scene of the most serious environmental pollution scandals of the past years. At the end of July, he was assigned the liquidation of R\u00e1c Baths, a spa facility, which was renovated for billions of forints but has been closed for years. In August, he also became responsible for the liquidation of Ajt\u00f3si University Property Distributor. The company is the owner of the venue of D\u00fcrer Kert, a popular beer garden in Budapest. But his portfolio also contains Eur\u00f3pa Center and Royal Balaton & Golf, a golf resort, in Balatonudvari.<\/p>\n
NRN did not answer our questions about why B\u00f6rcs\u00f6k has become the busiest liquidator of NRN. It argued that these details are part of the \u201cinternal work rules of the company\u201d. Minister Seszt\u00e1k claimed that it is not his competence to define which cases go to which liquidators of the state company. He said that he knows plenty of other liquidators besides B\u00f6rcs\u00f6k. When asked how many of them have become as influential as B\u00f6rcs\u00f6k, he said that he did not conduct this sort of analysis.<\/p>\n
B\u00f6rcs\u00f6k has so far only sold the assets of a district heating provider to a local municipality. Until he sells the assets and properties of other companies, these must be operated, maintained, guarded, cleaned. NRN refused to provide details on these contracts, saying that in their opinion these data do not qualify as public information.<\/p>\n
Neither did NRN reply to questions about B\u00f6rcs\u00f6k\u2019s employment, including about the fee he is paid. They only said that liquidators receive a fix amount and are not entitled for extra benefits for successful deals.<\/p>\n
Those who know B\u00f6rcs\u00f6k say that despite becoming an influential person in the industry, he has remained a “quiet”, “careful” and “discreet guy.” Recently, he was assigned to liquidate the publisher of Figyel\u0151, one of the oldest and best-known political weeklies, he personally is still avoiding publicity. Hardly any photos of him can be found online. Besides pictures from family gatherings, his Facebook wall contains also photos where he is posing in hunting clothes or smoking cigars while leaning back in satisfaction.<\/p>\n
We can only do this work if we have supporters. Become a supporting member now!<\/a><\/div>\nFor data on the Hungarian companies we used the services of\u00a0Opten<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0C\u00e9ginfo<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\nThis story was reported and published with the support of the Center for Independent Journalism. CIJ provided support in part of a project that is funded by the Open Society Foundations.<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Some years ago S\u00e1ndor B\u00f6rcs\u00f6k, a Hungarian liquidator had complained about not receiving lucrative assignments. Then his old acquaintance, Mikl\u00f3s Seszt\u00e1k became the minister responsible for the liquidation industry and many things have changed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":2511,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[437],"class_list":["post-2507","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-az-allam-tanacsadoi","author-andras-szabo"],"authors":[{"term_id":437,"user_id":13,"is_guest":0,"slug":"andras-szabo","display_name":"Andras Szabo","avatar_url":{"url":"https:\/\/direkt36.exot.hu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/av_szabo_andras.png","url2x":"https:\/\/direkt36.exot.hu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/av_szabo_andras.png"},"description":"[:hu]Andr\u00e1s nyolc \u00e9vig dolgozott \u00fajs\u00e1g\u00edr\u00f3k\u00e9nt az Orig\u00f3n\u00e1l, \u00e9s t\u00f6bb \u00e9vet elt\u00f6lt\u00f6tt az Indexn\u00e9l \u00e9s a vs.hu-n\u00e1l is. A Direkt36-n\u00e1l az orosz-magyar kapcsolatokkal, a Fidesz-k\u00f6zeli \u00fczleti k\u00f6r\u00f6k tev\u00e9kenys\u00e9g\u00e9vel, \u00e9s az Orb\u00e1n-korm\u00e1ny d\u00f6nt\u00e9shozatal\u00e1nak folyamataival foglalkozik. 2011-ben G\u0151b\u00f6ly\u00f6s Soma-d\u00edjat, 2010-ben pedig Min\u0151s\u00e9gi \u00fajs\u00e1g\u00edr\u00e1s\u00e9rt d\u00edjat nyert, mindkett\u0151t az\u00e9rt a cikksorozat\u00e1\u00e9rt, amely a Gyurcs\u00e1ny-korm\u00e1ny egyik korrupci\u00f3gyan\u00fas ingatlanelad\u00e1s\u00e1t mutatta be.\r\n[:en]Andr\u00e1s worked eight years as a journalist at Origo, a then prestigious online news site, but also spent several years at Index and vs.hu news outlets. At Direkt36 he covers Russian-Hungarian relations, activities of business circles close to Fidesz, and political decision making processes of the Orb\u00e1n government. In 2011 he received the G\u0151b\u00f6ly\u00f6s Soma Award dedicated to investigative journalism in Hungary, and in 2010 he won the Quality Journalism Award, both for a series of articles that focused on a corruption case connected to the former Socialist-led government.[:]","first_name":"Andr\u00e1s","last_name":"Szab\u00f3","user_url":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/direkt36.exot.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2507","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/direkt36.exot.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/direkt36.exot.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/direkt36.exot.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/direkt36.exot.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2507"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/direkt36.exot.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2507\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9200,"href":"https:\/\/direkt36.exot.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2507\/revisions\/9200"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/direkt36.exot.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2511"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/direkt36.exot.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2507"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/direkt36.exot.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2507"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/direkt36.exot.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2507"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/direkt36.exot.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=2507"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
<\/a><\/p>\nAnother link between B\u00f6rcs\u00f6k and Seszt\u00e1k is a group of companies known as the Ramiris group, dealing with the sale of cars, computers and other products. Even though according to company documents B\u00f6rcs\u00f6k and Seszt\u00e1k did not work in the companies at the same time, both of them were active in them at several occasions.<\/p>\n
Seszt\u00e1k was the legal representative of the Ramiris companies. Later, three of the companies were liquidated by firms linked to B\u00f6rcs\u00f6k. One of them is Ramiris Mobil where Seszt\u00e1k was not only the lawyer but previously he was also the business partner of the company\u2019s managers.<\/p>\n
Seszt\u00e1k, in an interview that took place in his conference room in the ministry, told Direkt36 that despite these links, he has not been in a close relation with B\u00f6rcs\u00f6k. Regarding the rental deal in Kisv\u00e1rda, he said that his wife\u2019s company did not check who the tenant was. Furthermore then there were only few real estate companies in Kisv\u00e1rda where offices could have been rented. Seszt\u00e1k also said that the real estate company was trying to attract more tenants during the economic crisis by offering a free trial period and that is why B\u00f6rcs\u00f6k\u2019s company did not have to pay for the rent. He said that B\u00f6rcs\u00f6k\u2019s company moved out after the trial period ended.<\/p>\n
Seszt\u00e1k claimed that during the cessation of Ford-T\u00e1pl his relation with B\u00f6rcs\u00f6k remained professional. He added that they did not meet during the liquidation of the Ramiris companies.<\/p>\n
B\u00f6rcs\u00f6k also called his relation with Seszt\u00e1k “strictly professional.” He said that it was just by chance that his company rented an office from the firm of Seszt\u00e1k\u2019s wife. B\u00f6rcs\u00f6k also mentioned that he liquidated several such companies which were not served by Seszt\u00e1k but other lawyers.<\/p>\n
The successful man<\/strong><\/h2>\nB\u00f6rcs\u00f6k\u2019s career started in 1995 in the company called Economix. He overtook the management of the company at the end of 2004, and today he owns more than 80 percent of the company\u2019s shares. The company gave up several activities during the past years, and its main profile has become liquidation.<\/p>\n
Even though B\u00f6rcs\u00f6k was described by one of his former colleagues as someone who really likes his job and as \u201ca clever negotiator, target-oriented person\u201d, his company closed several financial years in the 2000s without any profit. In 2009, after his company produced a loss of 7 million forints in the previous year, B\u00f6rcs\u00f6k complained to the shareholders that they were not receiving significant assignments and there is no value in the companies liquidated by them. \u201cThese indebted companies do not have wealth in them, maybe only on paper,\u201d he said, according to public documents. Company value is one of the most important indicators in the liquidation business because liquidators get 3 percent from the sold company assets.<\/p>\n
Then the tables turned, and B\u00f6rcs\u00f6k\u2019s company closed 2011 with the revenue of 16 million forints and profit of 1.5 million forints, and the year 2012 with an income of already 58 million and profit of 26 million forints.<\/p>\n
One of the deals that was behind the rise of B\u00f6rcs\u00f6k\u2019s company had political implications as well. In 2009, Economix won the liquidation of Balaton H\u00fasipar Ltd. The meat processing company was first bought by a bank, which in 2011 sold it to the Prime Minister\u2019s friend, the mayor of Felcs\u00fat, L\u0151rinc M\u00e9sz\u00e1ros. While in 2009 B\u00f6rcs\u00f6k advertised the meat processing company for 1.6 billion forints, in 2010 the price was lowered to 470 million forints. He explained the price decrease to Hvg.hu news site with the economic crisis. Public documents do not reveal the final selling price of the company , and M\u00e9sz\u00e1ros\u2019s company refused to tell the price. From the assets of the purchased meat processing company M\u00e9sz\u00e1ros created a new firm called Bakony H\u00fas Ltd., which last year made a profit of 205 million forints and which he then sold in June 2016.<\/p>\n
B\u00f6rcs\u00f6k\u2019s position strengthened significantly in 2014 when the liquidation rights were redistributed in a process organized by the government. Only those 130 companies can have licence for liquidation which were selected by the government in a tender. The applications were preliminarily evaluated by a committee led by Seszt\u00e1k, then a member of parliament. Several of the winning companies turned out to have good political connections. One of the firms is owned by Endre Hamar, a former business partner of Istv\u00e1n Tiborcz, the son-in-law of Prime Minister Viktor Orb\u00e1n.<\/p>\n
Even though the government promised to make sure that the licences will not be granted for a close circle, in the end the list of winners included several companies connected with each other. Apart from his own company, B\u00f6rcs\u00f6k is also linked to several other winners.<\/p>\n
his wife\u2019s company \u201cInsolvent\u201d also won, as did C\u00e9g-Controll, the company of one of his close colleagues. In the latter, B\u00f6rcs\u00f6k is currently working as a liquidator. A fourth liquidation company, F1 Consulting, has an office in a building that is owned by B\u00f6rcs\u00f6k and where his companies\u2019 offices are.<\/p>\n
F1 Consulting, currently based in Szigetszentmikl\u00f3s, was founded by B\u00f6rcs\u00f6k and his wife but was sold before the licensing tender at the end of 2012. We asked F1 Consulting why they opened an office after the sale of the company at the address where B\u00f6rcs\u00f6k\u2019s office is also located, but they did not respond. B\u00f6rcs\u00f6k was still employed by the company last year when he was the liquidator of a holiday resort in Si\u00f3fok, a town by lake Balaton.<\/p>\n
B\u00f6rcs\u00f6k\u2019s success did not go unnoticed in his professional circles. When the liquidators\u2019 association wanted to elect a new president after the governmental tender in 2014, many of its members wished to see B\u00f6rcs\u00f6k in this position and nominated him. One of the liquidators explained this by saying that in professional circles it was well-known that companies related to B\u00f6rcs\u00f6k performed well in the tender, thus several members came to the conclusion that he must have good governmental connections. \u201cSome of them thought that he may also help them with certain issues,\u201d he said. B\u00f6rcs\u00f6k explained the nomination with his professional past in the association and the network of contacts he built during his career. He wrote that he did not accept the position for family reasons.<\/p>\n
So, the same president was re-elected and B\u00f6rcs\u00f6k became only a member of the association\u2019s leadership.<\/p>\n
Billions go through his hands<\/strong><\/h2>\n\u00a0<\/strong>B\u00f6rcs\u00f6k might have refused to lead the association but he won a job with the state liquidation company last summer. The National Reorganisation Nonprofit (NRN) Ltd. was set up in 2012 by the government with the aim to liquidate \u201cstrategically important\u201d companies in case of their bankruptcy.<\/p>\nSix months after Seszt\u00e1k\u2019s ministerial appointment, the NRN\u2019s supervision was placed under his Ministry. The explanation was that after the 2014 parliamentary elections, which was won again by the governing Fidesz party, there were changes in the state assets management which made the ministerial supervision of several state companies necessary.<\/p>\n
Rules specifying which companies can be called strategically important are rather vague. A company implementing a \u201cproject with national economic importance,\u201d or which received a state loan or fulfils a public task could be listed as strategically important. Besides water or heat supply providers, high-value real estate companies and hotels were also named as strategically important by the government. Hotel Saliris in Egerszal\u00f3k, where one of the close business partners of L\u0151rinc M\u00e9sz\u00e1ros appeared as a service provider, was also listed as strategically important, thus its liquidation is being carried out by NRN as well.<\/p>\n
According to NRN\u2019s website, the state company has started the liquidation of 49 firms. This number may not seem high but the firms under liquidation have huge assets, 262 billion forints according to the calculations of Direkt36. The liquidation of 16 billion was already concluded, the rest is still ongoing. According to the association of liquidators, this is almost half of the total assets under liquidation.<\/p>\n
B\u00f6rcs\u00f6k\u2019s position is the strongest among the 13 liquidators of NRN. \u201cHe is also strategically important,\u201d an owner of a liquidation company said. According to our analysis, 41 percent of the 262 billion forints under liquidation is supervised by B\u00f6rcs\u00f6k. Well behind him are the other liquidators of NRN, including Jen\u0151 Varga, one of the most influential liquidators of the past two decades. Varga, for example, is responsible for the liquidation of the former Hungarian airlines Mal\u00e9v, which began in 2012. As described by one of his colleagues, he was previously the one \u201cblowing in the trade winds\u201d.<\/p>\n
This is now more and more true about B\u00f6rcs\u00f6k, who is overseeing the liquidation of 10 strategically important companies. He overtook the liquidation of ETO Park and the company which owns a football team in Gy\u0151r from Varga, and the liquidation of K\u00d6KI Termin\u00e1l and a logistical centre from other liquidators. He is also in charge of the liquidation of Budapest Chemical Works Company, known for its factory on Illatos Street, the scene of the most serious environmental pollution scandals of the past years. At the end of July, he was assigned the liquidation of R\u00e1c Baths, a spa facility, which was renovated for billions of forints but has been closed for years. In August, he also became responsible for the liquidation of Ajt\u00f3si University Property Distributor. The company is the owner of the venue of D\u00fcrer Kert, a popular beer garden in Budapest. But his portfolio also contains Eur\u00f3pa Center and Royal Balaton & Golf, a golf resort, in Balatonudvari.<\/p>\n
NRN did not answer our questions about why B\u00f6rcs\u00f6k has become the busiest liquidator of NRN. It argued that these details are part of the \u201cinternal work rules of the company\u201d. Minister Seszt\u00e1k claimed that it is not his competence to define which cases go to which liquidators of the state company. He said that he knows plenty of other liquidators besides B\u00f6rcs\u00f6k. When asked how many of them have become as influential as B\u00f6rcs\u00f6k, he said that he did not conduct this sort of analysis.<\/p>\n
B\u00f6rcs\u00f6k has so far only sold the assets of a district heating provider to a local municipality. Until he sells the assets and properties of other companies, these must be operated, maintained, guarded, cleaned. NRN refused to provide details on these contracts, saying that in their opinion these data do not qualify as public information.<\/p>\n
Neither did NRN reply to questions about B\u00f6rcs\u00f6k\u2019s employment, including about the fee he is paid. They only said that liquidators receive a fix amount and are not entitled for extra benefits for successful deals.<\/p>\n
Those who know B\u00f6rcs\u00f6k say that despite becoming an influential person in the industry, he has remained a “quiet”, “careful” and “discreet guy.” Recently, he was assigned to liquidate the publisher of Figyel\u0151, one of the oldest and best-known political weeklies, he personally is still avoiding publicity. Hardly any photos of him can be found online. Besides pictures from family gatherings, his Facebook wall contains also photos where he is posing in hunting clothes or smoking cigars while leaning back in satisfaction.<\/p>\n
We can only do this work if we have supporters. Become a supporting member now!<\/a><\/div>\nFor data on the Hungarian companies we used the services of\u00a0Opten<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0C\u00e9ginfo<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\nThis story was reported and published with the support of the Center for Independent Journalism. CIJ provided support in part of a project that is funded by the Open Society Foundations.<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Some years ago S\u00e1ndor B\u00f6rcs\u00f6k, a Hungarian liquidator had complained about not receiving lucrative assignments. Then his old acquaintance, Mikl\u00f3s Seszt\u00e1k became the minister responsible for the liquidation industry and many things have changed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":2511,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[437],"class_list":["post-2507","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-az-allam-tanacsadoi","author-andras-szabo"],"authors":[{"term_id":437,"user_id":13,"is_guest":0,"slug":"andras-szabo","display_name":"Andras Szabo","avatar_url":{"url":"https:\/\/direkt36.exot.hu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/av_szabo_andras.png","url2x":"https:\/\/direkt36.exot.hu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/av_szabo_andras.png"},"description":"[:hu]Andr\u00e1s nyolc \u00e9vig dolgozott \u00fajs\u00e1g\u00edr\u00f3k\u00e9nt az Orig\u00f3n\u00e1l, \u00e9s t\u00f6bb \u00e9vet elt\u00f6lt\u00f6tt az Indexn\u00e9l \u00e9s a vs.hu-n\u00e1l is. A Direkt36-n\u00e1l az orosz-magyar kapcsolatokkal, a Fidesz-k\u00f6zeli \u00fczleti k\u00f6r\u00f6k tev\u00e9kenys\u00e9g\u00e9vel, \u00e9s az Orb\u00e1n-korm\u00e1ny d\u00f6nt\u00e9shozatal\u00e1nak folyamataival foglalkozik. 2011-ben G\u0151b\u00f6ly\u00f6s Soma-d\u00edjat, 2010-ben pedig Min\u0151s\u00e9gi \u00fajs\u00e1g\u00edr\u00e1s\u00e9rt d\u00edjat nyert, mindkett\u0151t az\u00e9rt a cikksorozat\u00e1\u00e9rt, amely a Gyurcs\u00e1ny-korm\u00e1ny egyik korrupci\u00f3gyan\u00fas ingatlanelad\u00e1s\u00e1t mutatta be.\r\n[:en]Andr\u00e1s worked eight years as a journalist at Origo, a then prestigious online news site, but also spent several years at Index and vs.hu news outlets. At Direkt36 he covers Russian-Hungarian relations, activities of business circles close to Fidesz, and political decision making processes of the Orb\u00e1n government. In 2011 he received the G\u0151b\u00f6ly\u00f6s Soma Award dedicated to investigative journalism in Hungary, and in 2010 he won the Quality Journalism Award, both for a series of articles that focused on a corruption case connected to the former Socialist-led government.[:]","first_name":"Andr\u00e1s","last_name":"Szab\u00f3","user_url":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/direkt36.exot.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2507","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/direkt36.exot.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/direkt36.exot.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/direkt36.exot.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/direkt36.exot.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2507"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/direkt36.exot.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2507\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9200,"href":"https:\/\/direkt36.exot.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2507\/revisions\/9200"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/direkt36.exot.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2511"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/direkt36.exot.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2507"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/direkt36.exot.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2507"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/direkt36.exot.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2507"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/direkt36.exot.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=2507"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\u00a0<\/strong>B\u00f6rcs\u00f6k might have refused to lead the association but he won a job with the state liquidation company last summer. The National Reorganisation Nonprofit (NRN) Ltd. was set up in 2012 by the government with the aim to liquidate \u201cstrategically important\u201d companies in case of their bankruptcy.<\/p>\n Six months after Seszt\u00e1k\u2019s ministerial appointment, the NRN\u2019s supervision was placed under his Ministry. The explanation was that after the 2014 parliamentary elections, which was won again by the governing Fidesz party, there were changes in the state assets management which made the ministerial supervision of several state companies necessary.<\/p>\n Rules specifying which companies can be called strategically important are rather vague. A company implementing a \u201cproject with national economic importance,\u201d or which received a state loan or fulfils a public task could be listed as strategically important. Besides water or heat supply providers, high-value real estate companies and hotels were also named as strategically important by the government. Hotel Saliris in Egerszal\u00f3k, where one of the close business partners of L\u0151rinc M\u00e9sz\u00e1ros appeared as a service provider, was also listed as strategically important, thus its liquidation is being carried out by NRN as well.<\/p>\n According to NRN\u2019s website, the state company has started the liquidation of 49 firms. This number may not seem high but the firms under liquidation have huge assets, 262 billion forints according to the calculations of Direkt36. The liquidation of 16 billion was already concluded, the rest is still ongoing. According to the association of liquidators, this is almost half of the total assets under liquidation.<\/p>\n B\u00f6rcs\u00f6k\u2019s position is the strongest among the 13 liquidators of NRN. \u201cHe is also strategically important,\u201d an owner of a liquidation company said. According to our analysis, 41 percent of the 262 billion forints under liquidation is supervised by B\u00f6rcs\u00f6k. Well behind him are the other liquidators of NRN, including Jen\u0151 Varga, one of the most influential liquidators of the past two decades. Varga, for example, is responsible for the liquidation of the former Hungarian airlines Mal\u00e9v, which began in 2012. As described by one of his colleagues, he was previously the one \u201cblowing in the trade winds\u201d.<\/p>\n This is now more and more true about B\u00f6rcs\u00f6k, who is overseeing the liquidation of 10 strategically important companies. He overtook the liquidation of ETO Park and the company which owns a football team in Gy\u0151r from Varga, and the liquidation of K\u00d6KI Termin\u00e1l and a logistical centre from other liquidators. He is also in charge of the liquidation of Budapest Chemical Works Company, known for its factory on Illatos Street, the scene of the most serious environmental pollution scandals of the past years. At the end of July, he was assigned the liquidation of R\u00e1c Baths, a spa facility, which was renovated for billions of forints but has been closed for years. In August, he also became responsible for the liquidation of Ajt\u00f3si University Property Distributor. The company is the owner of the venue of D\u00fcrer Kert, a popular beer garden in Budapest. But his portfolio also contains Eur\u00f3pa Center and Royal Balaton & Golf, a golf resort, in Balatonudvari.<\/p>\n NRN did not answer our questions about why B\u00f6rcs\u00f6k has become the busiest liquidator of NRN. It argued that these details are part of the \u201cinternal work rules of the company\u201d. Minister Seszt\u00e1k claimed that it is not his competence to define which cases go to which liquidators of the state company. He said that he knows plenty of other liquidators besides B\u00f6rcs\u00f6k. When asked how many of them have become as influential as B\u00f6rcs\u00f6k, he said that he did not conduct this sort of analysis.<\/p>\n B\u00f6rcs\u00f6k has so far only sold the assets of a district heating provider to a local municipality. Until he sells the assets and properties of other companies, these must be operated, maintained, guarded, cleaned. NRN refused to provide details on these contracts, saying that in their opinion these data do not qualify as public information.<\/p>\n Neither did NRN reply to questions about B\u00f6rcs\u00f6k\u2019s employment, including about the fee he is paid. They only said that liquidators receive a fix amount and are not entitled for extra benefits for successful deals.<\/p>\n Those who know B\u00f6rcs\u00f6k say that despite becoming an influential person in the industry, he has remained a “quiet”, “careful” and “discreet guy.” Recently, he was assigned to liquidate the publisher of Figyel\u0151, one of the oldest and best-known political weeklies, he personally is still avoiding publicity. Hardly any photos of him can be found online. Besides pictures from family gatherings, his Facebook wall contains also photos where he is posing in hunting clothes or smoking cigars while leaning back in satisfaction.<\/p>\n For data on the Hungarian companies we used the services of\u00a0Opten<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0C\u00e9ginfo<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n This story was reported and published with the support of the Center for Independent Journalism. CIJ provided support in part of a project that is funded by the Open Society Foundations.<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Some years ago S\u00e1ndor B\u00f6rcs\u00f6k, a Hungarian liquidator had complained about not receiving lucrative assignments. Then his old acquaintance, Mikl\u00f3s Seszt\u00e1k became the minister responsible for the liquidation industry and many things have changed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":2511,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[437],"class_list":["post-2507","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-az-allam-tanacsadoi","author-andras-szabo"],"authors":[{"term_id":437,"user_id":13,"is_guest":0,"slug":"andras-szabo","display_name":"Andras Szabo","avatar_url":{"url":"https:\/\/direkt36.exot.hu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/av_szabo_andras.png","url2x":"https:\/\/direkt36.exot.hu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/av_szabo_andras.png"},"description":"[:hu]Andr\u00e1s nyolc \u00e9vig dolgozott \u00fajs\u00e1g\u00edr\u00f3k\u00e9nt az Orig\u00f3n\u00e1l, \u00e9s t\u00f6bb \u00e9vet elt\u00f6lt\u00f6tt az Indexn\u00e9l \u00e9s a vs.hu-n\u00e1l is. A Direkt36-n\u00e1l az orosz-magyar kapcsolatokkal, a Fidesz-k\u00f6zeli \u00fczleti k\u00f6r\u00f6k tev\u00e9kenys\u00e9g\u00e9vel, \u00e9s az Orb\u00e1n-korm\u00e1ny d\u00f6nt\u00e9shozatal\u00e1nak folyamataival foglalkozik. 2011-ben G\u0151b\u00f6ly\u00f6s Soma-d\u00edjat, 2010-ben pedig Min\u0151s\u00e9gi \u00fajs\u00e1g\u00edr\u00e1s\u00e9rt d\u00edjat nyert, mindkett\u0151t az\u00e9rt a cikksorozat\u00e1\u00e9rt, amely a Gyurcs\u00e1ny-korm\u00e1ny egyik korrupci\u00f3gyan\u00fas ingatlanelad\u00e1s\u00e1t mutatta be.\r\n[:en]Andr\u00e1s worked eight years as a journalist at Origo, a then prestigious online news site, but also spent several years at Index and vs.hu news outlets. At Direkt36 he covers Russian-Hungarian relations, activities of business circles close to Fidesz, and political decision making processes of the Orb\u00e1n government. In 2011 he received the G\u0151b\u00f6ly\u00f6s Soma Award dedicated to investigative journalism in Hungary, and in 2010 he won the Quality Journalism Award, both for a series of articles that focused on a corruption case connected to the former Socialist-led government.[:]","first_name":"Andr\u00e1s","last_name":"Szab\u00f3","user_url":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/direkt36.exot.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2507","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/direkt36.exot.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/direkt36.exot.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/direkt36.exot.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/direkt36.exot.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2507"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/direkt36.exot.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2507\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9200,"href":"https:\/\/direkt36.exot.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2507\/revisions\/9200"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/direkt36.exot.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2511"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/direkt36.exot.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2507"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/direkt36.exot.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2507"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/direkt36.exot.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2507"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/direkt36.exot.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=2507"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}