While we’re a little late in getting to this story, we probably should mention that the former head of Hungary’s Central Law Enforcement Directorate is claiming that, back in 1996, then-Prime Minister Gyula Horn torpedoed an investigation of a mid-level bureaucrat who today is none other than Justice Minister Tibor Draskovics. In a recent interview in weekly HVG, Ernő Kiss (above) said that the case involved suspicions that Draskovics (below) used his influence to help Kuwait Petroleum Hungary Ltd. get a nice discount on a fine it had received for an infraction of some customs regulation. According to Kiss, law-enforcement officials involved in the case were “shocked” by the re-adjustment of the penalty from Ft 83 million to Ft 100,000. But when Kiss reported the case to Horn, the PM allegedly told him to back off.
Kiss adds that since the hydra-headed privatization scandal known as the “Tocsik case” had at the time only recently become public, Horn’s Socialist-led government did not need another black-eye. He also said that the case is not the only dubious deal linked to Draskovics. Not that any of this matters much, given that Draskovics is denying everything, and, as Justice Minister, is in a nice position to make sure there is no new investigation into this unwelcome bit of “old news.”
This must be rather easy to check. There must be some official documents on that the original fine was 83 MHUF, but only 100 KHUF needed to pay.
Viking,
Go ahead, check the facts if you want.
This case was reported by all major newspapers, left and right, why would they all lie about it? Someone must have checked out the story before reporting.
If you look at and listen to Draskovics, you must have a lot of faith in the system to believe he’s justice minister material.
As the story stands in the article above it is about one person making some claims. It does not mention anything was actually have been proved.
Yow write “Someone must have checked out the story before reporting”. Hopefully, but who?
Was it actually a legally binding decision to put the fine to 83 MHUF or was it just a discussion among some officials and some thought that 83 MHUF would be a good sum?