![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.direkt36.hu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/444_logo_s.jpg\"){kind=logo}
<\/a><\/div>\n<\/p>\n
- \n
- In\u00a0July, Direkt36 and its partners launched a project exposing how broken the politicians\u2019 wealth declaration system is<\/li>\n
- We uncovered how several politicians violated the rules, submitting incomplete or incorrect declaration forms<\/li>\n
- Opposition parties initiated inquiries concerning some politicians\u2019 assets<\/li>\n
- Some of the politicians exposed, including the prime minister, just shrugged as a response but minister of state L\u00e1szl\u00f3 Tas\u00f3 went on the attack<\/li>\n
- Despite his threats, he did not ask for correction of our story<\/li>\n
- Yet he filed a complaint with the police claiming that he was harassed. The police started an investigation based on the complaint<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
A minister of state failed to declare some of his lands for years and omitted millions of state subsidies too. An opposition politician appeared to be penniless according to his asset declarations yet his companies turned out to be quite well off. Even the prime minister Viktor Orb\u00e1n was caught violating some rules of the wealth declaration system.<\/p>\n
These were some of the stories Direkt36 has reported since the beginning of July, when our project called Vagyonkeres\u0151<\/a> (meaning \u2018Asset Locator\u2019 in Hungarian) was launched.<\/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,\u00a0Vagyonkeres\u0151<\/a>, 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.<\/p>\n
We can only do this work if we have supporters. Become a supporting member now!<\/a><\/h3>\n
Combat of good and evil<\/strong><\/h3>\n
The strongest reactions followed our article<\/a> about L\u00e1szl\u00f3 Tas\u00f3, minister of state responsible for transport. We uncovered that in his wealth declarations, he failed to declare millions of state subsidies and concealed some of his lands for years. These lands are located in a planned industrial development zone. In the case of some other lands, he listed a smaller share than he actually had in them.<\/p>\n
![\"Fot\u00f3:](\"https:\/\/www.direkt36.hu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/mur_nfm160304_bringaexpo-0420-e1468833041400.jpg\")
<\/a>Tas\u00f3 L\u00e1stzl\u00f3<\/p><\/div>\n
After our investigation was published, Gergely Kulcs\u00e1r of the opposition Jobbik party called for Tas\u00f3\u2019s resignation and initiated a wealth declaration inquiry against him. The Parliament\u2019s Immunity Committee, which is in charge of these inquiries, has not reacted yet, Kulcs\u00e1r told Direkt36 on Friday. A similar inquiry was initiated by Viktor Szigetv\u00e1ri, leader of another opposition party, Egy\u00fctt.<\/p>\n
Wealth declaration inquiries may be launched either by the committee\u2019s chairman or as the result of the decision of the majority of the committee\u2019s members. The process is to find out whether politicians did comply with the rules of the wealth declaration system. If MPs are caught that they violated the rules the MPs have five days to correct their declarations. If they do it, the process is terminated.<\/p>\n
Since 2014, opposition politicians attempted to launch inquiries multiple times but were never successful. Their claims were rejected on the basis of being unsubstantiated. The processes were blocked either by the chairman of the commission, Imre Vejkey, who belongs to the governing coalition, or the similarly pro-government majority of the commission members.<\/p>\n
Tas\u00f3 was apparently outraged by the story exposing his flawed declarations. Even before the article was published he had called queries \u2018paid provocation.\u2019 Later, in a statement, he accused Direkt36 of deliberately falsifying data. He also published a long post (of more than twenty paragraphs) on his official Facebook page talking about a discrediting campaign against him and the combat of good and evil. \u201cThey are piercing the heart so that they can kill the souls,\u201d he accused the whole news media in the post that was removed from his page on a few minutes after publication.<\/p>\n
Tas\u00f3 disputed the statements of our articles in several interviews, accusing Direkt36 of misrepresenting the facts. His most frequent claim was that his latest wealth declaration fully complied with the truth (although our article did not state otherwise, we pointed out flaws in his declarations from the last twelve years). Tas\u00f3 also talked a lot about how little value his lands have and tried to explain why he declared to be only a partial owner of a forest while being officially the sole owner. He claimed that marital law implies his wife to be owner of half of his properties. Yet the land registry data show otherwise.<\/p>\n
Promised lawsuits against provocation<\/strong><\/h3>\n
So far, Tas\u00f3 has threatened at least eight times to file lawsuits against Direkt36 and other media organizations that reported our findings. He promised to initiate a criminal investigation as well as a civil lawsuit against the author of the articles, and he also said that he would ask for a correction of the article.<\/p>\n
Still,\u00a0Tas\u00f3 failed to file an official correction claim. He had 30 days to do that, which expired at the end of July.<\/p>\n
However, Tas\u00f3 requested corrections from H\u00edrTV and Budapest Beacon, two of the several news organizations that published rewritten versions of our piece about the politicians\u2019 assets. The lawyer of the news channel H\u00edrTV told Direkt36 that they refused to correct their article. Budapest Beacon has, however, published an official correction. They changed their article, which had contained some information that was taken from our original article without the full context.<\/p>\n
Direkt36 is not aware of any additional corrections. We have contacted L\u00e1szl\u00f3 Tas\u00f3 through his office, asking him about what kind of lawsuits he had started and why he had failed to file a correction claim against Direkt36. There was no answer.<\/p>\n
L\u00e1szl\u00f3 Kov\u00e1tsits, the lawyer who filed the correction requests on behalf of Tas\u00f3, refused to answer any of our questions, saying he is bound by secrecy rules. He even refused to confirm that he had been the lawyer representing Tas\u00f3 in these cases.<\/p>\n
There is, however, a legal procedure already under way which was initiated by Tas\u00f3. He turned to the police claiming that he and his family members suffered harassment in connection with Direkt36\u2019s story. The press office of the Budapest Police told Direkt36 that a harassment investigation has been launched against unknown suspects.<\/p>\n
The police refused to provide more details and Tas\u00f3\u2019s lawyer did not respond to our questions, so it is not known what exactly Tas\u00f3\u2019s complaint contained.<\/p>\n
In his public statements, he accused journalists of harassment. He considered it harassment when video reporters of Index, a popular news site, asked questions about him in his hometown, Ny\u00edradony. \u201cThey harassed my wife at our family house in Ny\u00edradony and accidentally interviewed my neighbour who is a voyeur and at odds with me for years. They harassed locals on the streets, who had little information about their unscrupulous action. I warn these people to stay away from my family, they are not public figures!,” he wrote.<\/p>\n
Tas\u00f3 also suggested that Direkt36\u2019s reporter harassed his family.<\/p>\n
Direkt36\u2019s reporter has indeed contacted several of Tas\u00f3\u2019s relatives in connection with a story about how the state minister\u2019s family members benefited from state-funded projects. The reporter contacted them via email and phone. After most of the involved refused to comment, we did not contact them anymore. The politician considered this, however, a \u201csystematic and unscrupulous\u201d harassment.<\/p>\n
According to the Hungarian Criminal Code, harassment is when someone \u201cengages in conduct intended to intimidate another person, to disturb the privacy of or to upset, or cause emotional distress to another person arbitrarily, or who is engaged in the pestering of another person on a regular basis, is guilty of a misdemeanour punishable by imprisonment not exceeding one year.\u201d<\/p>\n
L\u00e1szl\u00f3 Bodolai, a lawyer of Index, told Direkt36 that he has never heard of a harassment investigation launched in connection with journalists doing their jobs.<\/p>\n
Opposition\u2019s actions<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Direkt36 uncovered several errors in other politicians\u2019 wealth declarations. One of them was Prime Minister Viktor Orb\u00e1n. He violated the regulations for years when he was declaring some of his parcels bought in Felcs\u00fat, his home village. Because of the irregularities, several interesting details remained hidden from the public on how Orb\u00e1n acquired the lands.<\/p>\n
The head of press service at the PM\u2019s office refused to give a detailed answer. Instead, he briefly commented that \u201cthe wealth declaration of the prime minister is full, accurate and in accordance with the law,\u201d and that what is written there \u201cis the truth.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Fot\u00f3:](\"https:\/\/www.direkt36.hu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/313886_orban_viktor_szombathelyen1.jpg\")
<\/a>Orb\u00e1n Viktor Szombathelyen<\/p><\/div>\n
After our publication of the story, an opposition politician, P\u00e9ter Juh\u00e1sz, called on Orb\u00e1n to declare his real state of wealth. (In response, the governing Fidesz party once again initiated a wealth declaration inquiry against Juh\u00e1sz.) Another opposition politician (of the radical right-wing party Jobbik), Lajos Kepli, held a press conference about \u201cFidesz being consumed by a series of scandals of their false declarations,\u201d and urged the party to \u201cstop fabricating false declarations.\u201d He also initiated a wealth declaration inquiry process against Orb\u00e1n. He has not got an answer so far, but it might be because of the vacation season, he told Direkt36.<\/p>\n
Direkt36 found some irregularities in other Fidesz politicians\u2019 declarations too. Imre Pesti, for example, failed to declare his right to use a property<\/a>. Zsolt Becs\u00f3 omitted a company and millions of public funds<\/a> from his declarations, taking advantage of the flaws of the declaration system.<\/p>\n
Pesti told Direkt36 that it was not obligatory to declare enjoyment rights in 2006. However, since 2013 the regulations specifically require the declaration of such assets. The rules were less clear before 2013, but they did not provide exemptions from declaring enjoyment rights, which, just like other assets, have to be declared every year. Opposition party Egy\u00fctt initiated a wealth declaration inquiry process against Pesti, and Jobbik held a press conference about him.<\/p>\n
Becs\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. Later, he posted a long response on his Facebook page, calling our article \u201cdiscreditation of the worst kind.\u201d<\/p>\n
Opposition politicians make mistakes, too<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Direkt36\u2019s investigation found examples on the opposition\u2019s side as well that showed how broken the current system is.<\/p>\n
Vice president of the opposition party DK (Democratic Coalition), L\u00e1szl\u00f3 Varju, looks almost entirely penniless, according to his wealth declarations. He does not own a property or a car and does not even have serious savings, only shares of several companies. These companies, however, have assets and income. Thus Varju and his family own, among others, a hostel near the bank of the Danube and two apartments next to lake Balaton.<\/p>\n
![\"L\u00e1szl\u00f3](\"https:\/\/www.direkt36.hu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/Varju6.jpg\")
<\/a>L\u00e1szl\u00f3 Varju followed Ferenc Gyurcs\u00e1ny to the new party DK<\/p><\/div>\n
This showed a very serious shortcoming of the system: that if an MP\u2019s assets are held by companies the wealth declaration will show nothing about it.<\/p>\n
According to Varju, his declarations do show his real wealth, because the financial state of his companies can be easily looked up in the company registry. He admitted, however, to have been making a mistake when he failed to declare some of his companies for years. But he said he had corrected the error in his latest wealth declaration. His party, DK, also issued a statement saying that Varju admitted and corrected his mistake. The party promised to \u201cgo on with the fight to renew the wealth declaration system,\u201d because \u201cfull transparency\u201d is needed.<\/p>\n
Governing party Fidesz seized to opportunity to criticise DK for Varju\u2019s wealth situation. J\u00e1nos Hal\u00e1sz, spokesman of the governing Fidesz party, said that \u201ca left-wing trick was revealed once again\u201d, and added that the opposition is full of corruption cases. RTL News tried to ask Hal\u00e1sz about the wealth declaration violations committed by Fidesz MPs, but he refused to answer the question.<\/p>\n
We can only do this work if we have supporters. Become a supporting member now!<\/a><\/h3>\n