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<\/a><\/div>\nIt is hard to find a Hungarian MP more eager to share his activities in his electoral district than Zsolt Becs\u00f3. The Fidesz MP of Salg\u00f3tarj\u00e1n, a county seat in Northern Hungary, posts on his Facebook wall on a daily basis about developments or events like gastronomy festivals in the region.<\/p>\n
Becs\u00f3 regularly visits Holl\u00f3k\u0151, a UNESCO World Heritage village in Northern Hungary belonging to his electoral district. His visits are partly related to a new house with a beautiful panorama. The house was built by a company co-owned by Becs\u00f3, which has received 34m HUF (\u20ac109,000) in state and EU funds in order to \u201cbuild a guest house.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, Becs\u00f3 has not declared neither the company, nor the public funds in his wealth declarations. The company linked to Becs\u00f3 has also received 20m HUF (\u20ac64,000) in public funds in order to build a tennis centre in P\u00e1szt\u00f3, a town in Becs\u00f3\u2019s electoral district. The MP failed to declare this either.
\nBecs\u00f3 told Direk36 that he omitted the company from his wealth declarations because he does not have a direct ownership as a \u201cprivate person\u201d in it, but through a different company.<\/p>\n
The errors in Becs\u00f3\u2019s wealth declarations are further signs that this system in its current state is barely suitable to show politicians\u2019 assets transparently. Direkt36, 444 and Transparency International have partnered to develop a database, in which anyone can search for the declarations of MPs. The new site,\u00a0Vagyonkeres\u0151<\/a>\u00a0(meaning \u2018Asset Locator\u2019 in Hungarian) aims to help hold the politicians accountable.<\/p>\n As part of the project<\/a>, we reported on politicians,\u00a0including state minister L\u00e1szl\u00f3 Tas\u00f3<\/a>\u00a0and prime minister Viktor Orb\u00e1n<\/a>, who\u00a0violated rules when filling their wealth declarations.<\/p>\n Zsolt Becs\u00f3 is one of the most influential politicians in N\u00f3gr\u00e1d county. He has been an MP since 1998 and he was the chair of the county assembly in N\u00f3gr\u00e1d for 12 years. His brother, K\u00e1roly Becs\u00f3, is also a Fidesz politician. He was a vice-mayor in P\u00e1szt\u00f3, and currently he is a member of the local council.<\/p>\n In 2003, the Becs\u00f3 brothers established a company named Ara-Coeli Ltd. In 2013, Ara-Coeli purchased another company, Vertical Art. Since this company has no other owner than Ara-Coeli, the Becs\u00f3 brothers constitute as its sole owners as well.<\/p>\n They do not share the management responsibilities with others either. Both Ara-Coeli and Vertical Art are managed by K\u00e1roly Becs\u00f3.<\/p>\n Zsolt Becs\u00f3 claimed that he omitted Vertical Art from his wealth declaration because it is owned by his company, but not by him directly. According to wealth declarations regulations, \u201cbusiness interests\u201d must be declared, however, it is not specified what \u201cbusiness interests\u201d exactly mean.<\/p>\n Becs\u00f3 is not the only politician who failed to report a company owned through another firm. Nevertheless, there are counterexamples. Fidesz MP Ferenc Hirt has declared a company named Hirt Aut\u00f3 Kanizsa Ltd. which is not owned directly by him, but by his company, Hirt Aut\u00f3 Ltd.<\/p>\n In 2015, Vertical Art has received 34m HUF (\u20ac109,000) from the Agricultural and Rural Development Agency (MVH) for tourism development. The construction of the two-storey building in Holl\u00f3k\u0151 was finished more than a year ago. However, it does not appear to be a functioning guest house. There are no signs on display showing that the house is open for tourists. Internet searches for the guest house do not result in any advertisements.<\/p>\n The guest house at Holl\u00f3k\u0151<\/p><\/div>\n We were told by several locals that only Zsolt Becs\u00f3 and his family members could be seen around the house. Initially, K\u00e1roly Becs\u00f3 had stated that this statement in not true, but when we asked him to prove that the building indeed functions as a guest house, he did not reply to our mail. Zsolt Becs\u00f3 only wrote that his brother answered to all of our questions regarding Vertical Art.<\/p>\n Vertical Art also took part in another development project financed by public funds. \u00d6regb\u00e1nya Sportcentrum, a sport centre boasting of two tennis courts and a multifunctional building, was opened in July 2015. Zsolt Becs\u00f3 posted on Facebook twice about the opening of the new sport centre, and occasionally he also posts pictures about himself playing tennis. The last time he did this was in May.<\/p>\n The 3800 square meters plot belongs to Vertical Art and the company received 20m HUF (\u20ac64,000) EU and state funds for developing the sport centre.<\/p>\n Sport centre at P\u00e1szt\u00f3<\/p><\/div>\n In addition to Vertical Art, there is another company, M\u00e1tring Ltd which is indirectly owned by Zsolt Becs\u00f3, and it is not indicated in his wealth declaration either. It was in March 2007 that Ara-Coeli acquired 10 percent of the whole shares of M\u00e1tring.<\/p>\n Although Zsolt Becs\u00f3 is mostly active in N\u00f3gr\u00e1d county, he made headlines in the national media as well. According to investigative portal \u00c1tl\u00e1tsz\u00f3<\/a>, Becs\u00f3 has various links to a family, which gained 12 tobacco concessions out of the 19 in Salg\u00f3tarj\u00e1n. Tabloid newspaper Blikk revealed<\/a> that Becs\u00f3 was among that 12 county assembly chairs who travelled to the Azores for a conference. This trip was criticized by J\u00e1nos L\u00e1z\u00e1r, leader of Fidesz\u2019 parliamentary group then.<\/p>\n For information on companies, we used the databases of Ceginfo<\/a> and\u00a0Opten<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\nEasy to hide<\/h3>\n
State subsidy for a guest house<\/h3>\n
![\"Forr\u00e1s:](\"\/\/www.direkt36.hu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/DSC04620-e1469554936356.jpg\")
<\/a>Millions for a tennis centre<\/h3>\n
![\"Forr\u00e1s:](\"\/\/www.direkt36.hu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/DSC04626.jpg\")
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