Fidesz-backed independent candidates for local council posts in Kóny, Győr county discussed asking State Audit Office chief Alpár Gyopáros to help them discredit Socialist Party-backed mayor Imre Aller, a recording in the possession of website stop.hu suggests.
The sound recording allegedly contains local councillor Tamás Ágoston saying “everybody is knocking (on Fidesz member Gyopáros’s) door to ask how to blackmail Aller”. He also mentions MEP János Áder as a possible helper in a potential blackmail attempt.
Both Ágoston and another candidate, school principal Marica Németh, released a statement apologising to Gyopáros and Áder.
Gyopáros denied having spoken to those featured in the sound recording and told Népszabadság that he had received an apology over the phone on Monday morning.
The State Audit Office firmly denied having accepted any instructions.
Socialist MP Csaba Molnár described the events as “an unprecedented blackmail attempt in the 20-year history of the Hungarian Republic” at a press briefing in Kóny on Monday.
Fidesz deputy chairman Lajos Kósa said his party condemns this conduct, adding that those heard in the recording were not nominated by Fidesz but by the organisation Unity, which is merely co-operating with his party.
“those heard in the recording were not nominated by Fidesz but by the organisation Unity, which is merely co-operating with his party.”
That’s alright then, nothing to worry about!!