Evidence of the crimes allegedly perpetrated by Ernő Mesterházy, Budapest Mayor Gábor Demszky's former chief advisor, was discovered in the cellars beneath his houses in Szigliget, Blikk reports. According to the tabloid, Mesterházy, who is accused of misappropriating Ft 163 million (€537,000) worth of public funds hid computers and incriminating documents in the cellar system that exists beneath his houses near Lake Balaton. These were discovered when agents working for the Central Investigator's Office (Központi Nyomozó Főügyészség) searched the houses over a 24 hour period.

A week before Mesterházy's properties were searched, the vacation house of Ottó Lelovics, the press chief of former deputy mayor Miklós Hagyó (also under preliminary arrest) was also searched. Lelovics and his colleague Éva Horváth were taken into custody on May 26th, and recently had their preliminary arrests extended until September.

Mesterházy was under preliminary arrest from early February, suspected of forcing leaders of Budapest public transport operator BKV (which is own by the Budapest government) into signing contracts for unnecessary services, but was surprisingly released from detention this previous Friday following an appeal from his lawyer, origo.hu reports, adding that the decision caught even the prosecutor's office off guard.

Ostensibly the reason for Mesterházy's release was because he is not considered a flight risk nor likely to hamper the investigation against him, even though the prosecutor's office suspects him (and the others) of destroying evidence. One can only speculate why the court released Mesterházy following the discovery of more evidence against him.