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<\/a><\/div>\n\u201cI have nothing to hide here. I have bought lands from the gentleman in question and I have bought a lot of lands from others too. When I say a lot I mean that within 52 hectares.\u201d This was said by Viktor Orb\u00e1n, currently the Prime Minister of Hungary, even though according to his wealth declarations he has never had lands. Not a single hectare let alone 52.<\/p>\n
Orb\u00e1n talked about the lands in 2005, before a special parliamentary committee investigating his and his family\u2019s wealth. The committee looked into some of 52 hectares that Orb\u00e1n spoke of as his own property, even though, officially, it was his wife, Anik\u00f3 L\u00e9vai, who owned them.<\/p>\n
According to his wealth declarations, Viktor Orb\u00e1n has almost no possessions. \u201dI am not a wealthy man, I never was and I never will be one,\u201d he said this spring in the Hungarian Parliament. His wealth declarations show one of the main weaknesses of the system: if a politician wants to demonstrate that he is not rich, he can just hide his valuable assets simply under the name of a family member, as their wealth declarations are not public. Orb\u00e1n is not the only politician whose case shows the shortcomings of the system. Former PM Ferenc Gyurcs\u00e1ny and J\u00e1nos L\u00e1z\u00e1r, head of the Prime Minister\u2019s Office also encountered controversies over the assets of their family members.<\/p>\n
The wealth declarations in their current state are barely suitable to demonstrate the assets of politicians in a transparent way. Therefore, Direkt36, 444 and Transparency International have partnered to develop a database, in which anyone can search for the declarations of MPs. Our new site, Vagyonkeres\u0151<\/a> (meaning \u2018Asset Finder\u2019 in Hungarian) aims to help hold the politicians accountable. The database makes it easier to analyse data and detect previously hidden inconsistencies in the declarations. At the same time, it can put pressure on politicians to comply with the rules of the wealth declaration system. As part of the project we reported on politicians, for example PM Viktor Orb\u00e1n<\/a>, who filed inaccurate wealth declarations.<\/p>\n The purpose of the wealth declaration system is to hold the politicians and other state officials accountable. The whole picture is hidden, however, without the possibility to examine the assets of the office holders\u2019 family members. Even though the close relatives are also obliged to file wealth declarations too, those documents are not public.<\/p>\n Politicians of course can always decide to publish the declarations of their family members. Orb\u00e1n also did this when he was in opposition between 2002 and 2010. The documents made it clear that Orb\u00e1n\u2019s wife acquired considerable extent of real estate properties in the last 20 years. She listed 38 properties in her last published wealth declaration in 2010. More than half of the lands are around Felcs\u00fat, a village where Orb\u00e1n grew up. Direkt36 asked the PM\u2019s Press Office about the source of the funds for L\u00e9vai\u2019s land purchases, and also asked for L\u00e9vai\u2019s latest yet unpublished wealth declaration, but they did not answer our questions.<\/p>\n Since the family members\u2019 wealth declarations are not public, it is hard to reveal what assets they have. In 2014 J\u00e1nos L\u00e1z\u00e1r, now head of the Prime Minister\u2019s Office had to answer questions on their family members\u2019 assets too. First, it turned out that his two young sons – 10 and 5 years old – became landowners in the wine region of Tokaj. A few months later, another land registry information came to light to reveal his older son\u2019s luxury apartment in Budapest.<\/p>\n Orb\u00e1n is not the only politician who decided to publish a family member\u2019s wealth declaration. Usually they do so when they want to prove that they have nothing to hide.<\/p>\n In 2006, J\u00e1nos L\u00e1z\u00e1r published his wife\u2019s and his first son\u2019s wealth declarations. Among other assets, they declared a summer home in R\u00e9vf\u00fcl\u00f6p, a village at lake Balaton. J\u00e1nos L\u00e1z\u00e1r never listed this property in his wealth declaration even though he had enjoyment rights, or usufruct, on the property from 2005 to 2015. According to wealth declaration regulations, members of the parliament must declare such assetsbe . J\u00e1nos L\u00e1z\u00e1r appears to be well aware of this rule since he properly listed other lands with enjoyment rights in his latest wealth declarations.<\/p>\n Direkt36 asked J\u00e1nos L\u00e1z\u00e1r why he failed to comply with the rules in the case of the R\u00e9vf\u00fcl\u00f6p summer home. We asked him to send us the latest wealth declarations of his family members too. According to his press office, L\u00e1z\u00e1r is on holiday and he has had no chance to answer our questions yet. We will update our article as soon as we get his answers.<\/p>\n Former Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcs\u00e1ny, currently an opposition MP, also published his wife\u2019s declaration when he was in office from 2004 to 2009. In 2008, Kl\u00e1ra Dobrev, his wife, made a bid for a land in K\u00f6tcse, a village near to lake Balaton to build a summer home for the family. When opposition politicians asked her and her husband about the source of funds for the purchase she and Gyurcs\u00e1ny could point to the fact that Gyurcs\u00e1ny\u2019s company, which he acquired and ran before launching his political career, made a profit of hundreds of millions of forints every year.<\/p>\n A few months ago, Gyurcs\u00e1ny handed over his share in his company to his wife. Gyurcs\u00e1ny said that he made this decision so that he could focus solely on politics. The income from this company will disappear from Gyurcs\u00e1ny\u2019s wealth declarations but will stay in the family budget as his wife owns the company. Still, Gyurcs\u00e1ny says that he is committed to transparency. \u201cWe have never hidden our incomes and assets from the public, and we will not hide a thing in the future,\u201d he said, and to demonstrate this he attached his wife\u2019s latest wealth declaration.<\/p>\nWe can do this work only if we have supporters. Become a supporting member now!<\/a><\/h3>\n
Orb\u00e1n shares everything with his wife<\/h3>\n
\nAnik\u00f3 L\u00e9vai accumulated this wealth even though she has not had any notable income for most of this period. The PM\u2019s official website lists only her charity and volunteer work. She wrote a cookbook almost 10 years ago, and she is leading the editorial board of Magyar Konyha, a monthly cooking magazine. She never reported any incomes in her published wealth declarations.<\/p>\nAccidental revelations<\/h3>\n
\nIn some cases, the assets of politicians\u2019 family members were revealed by accident or thanks to the work of reporters. In 2014, it turned out that Fidesz vice-president Lajos K\u00f3sa\u2019s wife owns a luxury 4-bedroom apartment on the bank of the Danube in Budapest. \u201cNobody ever asked me about it,\u201d K\u00f3sa replied to a journalist who asked him why he had never disclosed before that his family owns such a valuable property.<\/p>\nPoliticians support transparency in case of political interest<\/h3>\n
We can only do this work if we have supporters. Become a supporting member now!<\/a><\/h3>\n