A long-running investigation of a company accused of improperly benefiting from government contracts under the previous, Fidesz-led government has been closed, apparently because it took too long. The company in question was allegedly used by well-connected political types to siphon money out of the state budget allocated for various nebulous “communications” projects, as well as such important state functions as fireworks displays, and is very appropriately named “Happy End Kft.”
According to a dispatch on index.hu based on a report in daily Népszabadság, the national tax office (APEH) began looking into Happy End’s books in 2002, after the election of the current Socialist-led government. The focus of the investigation was the lucrative contacts the company held with the so-called Country Image Center (Országimázs Központ) that had been created by the Orbán administration.
The authorities were apparently convinced that companies contracted by Happy End were guilty of numerous – and, to be blunt, thoroughly predictable – charges of fleecing the public treasury, by issuing inflated bills and creating fictional work for sub-contractors.
For this, the perpetrators could have faced up to three years in prison, but in this case, either fate or some seriously heavy hand of political influence intervened to make sure it all ended nicely for everyone involved.
