Hungary’s Integrity Authority ‘corruption’ scandal: director-general says allegations against him unfounded
Ferenc Pál Bíró, the head of Hungary’s Integrity Authority, on Friday said allegations of embezzlement made against him by prosecutors were “unfounded”, and the investigation would find that no crime had been committed.
National Communications office probe followed by corruption allegations
The operations of the Integrity Authority have always been transparent and followed “the strictest legal and ethical norms”, Bíró told a press conference after being interrogated earlier this week by Prosecutorial investigators (KNYF) under suspicion of embezzlement and abuse of office. He said he was proud that the authority served “the good of the country on a strictly independent and professional basis”.
Bíró said the authority was open to cooperating with prosecutors, adding, at the same time, that he believed the extent and drawn-out nature of the investigation against him was unnecessary. “The timing is also interesting,” he said, noting that the authority had launched a probe of the activities of the National Communications office last week. He said he believed the true aim of the investigation was to make the authority’s investigative and monitoring activities accessible to “a much broader circle”.
Personal attacks against the head of the Integrity Authority
“Yesterday they made personal attacks against me,” Bíró said, adding that the aim was to use the investigation against him to render the authority’s operations impossible. Commenting on the allegation that he used the Integrity Authority’s finances to rent a vehicle for his wife’s private use, Bíró said the authority rents some 20 vehicles of which three are assigned to the head of the authority and his deputies. Bíró said the use of the company vehicles was subject to internal regulations which were in line with the law.
He also denied the allegation that he had rented a car for an individual not employed by the authority. He said his wife had used his official vehicle occasionally, but this was allowed by the authority’s regulations.
Thousands of pages seized
Bíró said investigators had seized thousands of pages of documents during a search of the authority, including documents on the Integrity Authority’s ongoing investigations”. He said his home had also been searched, but investigators “didn’t take anything and couldn’t even say what they were looking for”.
Bíró speculated that the aim of the searches was to obtain information about the authority’s ongoing investigations. “These sort of attacks strengthen rather than weaken us,” he said, adding that the authority continued to work on curbing corruption.
Integrity Authority created by PM Orbán’s government
The Integrity Authority was created by the Orbán government to fulfil relevant demands of the European Union. They also hoped that establishing such an institution would help get EU funds frozen due to corruption allegations and rule of law problems. The Hungarian opposition slammed the institution for not being independent from the government. The institution’s main task is to fight corruption and fraud.
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Exactly how is this supposed to help Hungary’s problem with the EU Rule Of Law sanctions? Hungary is not going to be getting any money anytime soon.