July 4th, 2011

Former head of Hungary’s secret services under house arrest on espionage charges

The Metropolitan Military Tribunal has ordered Lajos Galambos, a former director of the civilian secret services (NBH), to be held in house custody on espionage charges, his attorney Lajos Molnar told journalists on Friday.

According to earlier press reports Galambos, who was appointed in July 2004 under the Socialist government of Peter Medgyessy, was detained on Tuesday.

Galambos’s defence lawyer said the court had rejected a request by the prosecutor to put him in preliminary detention since the court had not found entirely adequately grounds for the charges.

Investigating military prosecutors declined to disclose the precise nature of crime or crimes which the former NBH head was suspected of having committed.

Galambos, who headed NBH for three years, maintains his innocence, Molnar said.

“On the basis of the current evidence, I am convinced that my client is innocent and has not committed any kind legal violation,” he said.

Tabloid Blikk, without revealing its sources, said the case involved another criminal suspect, Robert Jakubinyi, which it described as the “godfather” of the Egymasert, Egy-masert Public Foundation, of which Galambos was a board member, and the suspected illegal sale of MOL shares.

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