March 11th, 2011

Former defence minister has political responsibility in graft allegations, says successor

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Former Defence Minister Imre Szekeres must take political responsibility for graft allegations affecting the ministry, Csaba Hende, the current defence minister, told commercial channel TV2 on Thursday morning.

Although Szekeres ordered an investigation into unlawful practices during the tenure of his predecessor, he should nevertheless take political responsibility, Hende said.

More than 20 former officials are implicated in wrongdoing, he added.

Former defence state secretary Laszlo Fapal allegedly controlled a criminal organisation, and there is an ongoing inquiry into a property purchase he made below the market price, Hende said. The investigation already revealed repeated cases of neglect and counterfeiting of official documents, which has been reported to the chief public prosecutor, he added.

Right-leaning Hir TV reported late February that a brigadier, referred to as Janos O., said he had once delivered 12 million forints (44,000 euros) in cash to Fapal and saw him putting 4 million forints into a cardboard whisky box and saying it was “for the boss”, meaning minister at the time Ferenc Juhasz. He then said he saw Fapal leave and return without the box, said HirTV.

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  1. Rebel says:
    March 11, 2011 at 3:57 pm

    Selling perfectly good, hardly used, well maintained AK-47s and other weapons really cheap as “scrap metal” was a responsible decision. The good folks who bought them will then make a nice profit trading those guns for drugs with the Afghan rebels, who in turn can use them to shoot Hungarians. What a deal!