The issue of the destroyed telephone transcripts: recent developments in the Brokergate Scandal

Dátum: 2005-05-31 15:09:00, eredeti URL: http://archiv.fidesz.hu/index.php?Cikk=38939
KCMDB-be feltöltve: 2024-05-04 21:51:35.198337, Feltöltő: fidesz_hu_scraper_v2

Summary:

Events took a new turn in the so-called Brokergate Scandal with the government having been forced to admit recently that transcripts of the tapped telephone conversations by Mr Attila Kulcsár, the key suspect in the affair, had been destroyed by the National Security Agency, despite ongoing investigations. Such an affair would bring down not only a state secretary, but the whole government anywhere in the democratic world.

The following is a short recap of the most important facts in the Brokergate Scandal.

Fraud and public funds:

In June 2003, a routine supervisory inquiry into an unlawful acquisition attempt in a chemical firm uncovered a long history and a complex array of financial crimes at Hungarian commercial banks, which has come to involve public money after the Medgyessy-government took office in 2002. Evidence indicate a deep involvement of socialist-related business circles, politicians and even key members of the current government, of which the unlawful destruction of the transcripts is yet another testimony.

It is a fact that in early 2003 the state-owned National Motorway Management Corporation (ÁAK Rt.) transferred HUF 16 billion worth of public funds for the acquisition attempt made by a private firm, a transaction enabled by the amendment of government decree a few months earlier, in December 2002. It is also a fact that the Prime Minister's Office declined to submit the documents on the motives of this amendment for the ad hoc parliamentary committee investigating the issue.

It is a fact that the president of the independent financial authority (PSZÁF) uncovering the series of frauds and embezzlements, Mr Károly Szász, was removed from his office in 2004 despite international protests, instead of being rewarded.

Names and contacts:

It is a fact that Mr Attila Kulcsár testified on several socialist politicians and persons directly related to MSZP, alleging that he had transferred significant amounts of money for them. (Excerpts of Mr Kulcsár's testimony have leaked to the press, the following is based on such leaks.)

Such persons include Mr László Puch, the questor of MSZP, as well as Mr Ferenc Baja, political state secretary in the Prime Minister's Office, and several socialist district mayors in Budapest.

The persons closely related to the socialist party and involved in the scandal include Mr András Jegesy, husband of Interior Minister Mónika Lamperth. His law firm was located in the very same building where Mr Kulcsár resided, with the office itself hired from principal actor of the scandal, Britton ltd. Mr Jegesy was also contracted by Britton ltd. for legal consultancy in exchange for a regular fee, but no real work had been done, in fact. Mr Kulcsár also testified that Mr Jegesy was instrumental in making high-level contacts in the police, with the aim of orchestrating a smear campaign against PSZÁF and Mr. Szász and making other diversions in the affair. (In other words, Mr Jegesy is involved in a criminal affair and will potentially be investigated by the police which is supervised by his wife, the Interior Minister.)

It is also a fact that a certain "Gyurcsányi" is mentioned on one of the tapes, whom we continue to know nothing about. Prime minister Gyurcsány first denied, then acknowledged to have made business with Mr Kulcsár through one of his firms.

The role of national security agencies:

It is a fact that Mr András Tóth, the state secretary overseeing the national security agencies, met Mr Kulcsár before the outbreak of the scandal. It is also a fact that Mr Tóth did not make criminal proceedings against Mr Kulcsár after the meeting, only eleven days later, by the time Mr Kulcsár had left Hungary. And although the national security agencies followed him to the Austrian border, he was not prevented from leaving the country. It is a fact that Mr Kulcsár's telephone was tapped before he left Hungary. The behaviour of the National Security Agency is therefore unexplainable.

It is a fact that members of the investigation committee intended to have an insight into the telephone transcripts. It is also a fact that they were denied this insight, in an unlawful manner, by state secretary Tóth. No coalition politician appeared before the committee and the government made all efforts to smear opposition politicians with the affair. It is also a fact that all members of the former Orbán-government appeared before the committee, as Fidesz has nothing to hide in the Brokergate Scandal.

It is a fact that the National Security Agency destroyed the tapped telephone transcripts late 2004. Such an affair would bring down not only a state secretary, but the whole government anywhere in the world. As what government politicians have been doing in the K&H-affair is called complicity in crime.

Budapest, 18 May 2005