The four are suspected of using shell companies to apply for agricultural subsidies worth hundreds of millions of forints. The payment of the cash was never made, however.

Regional Development Ministry state secretary Gyula Budai said the ministry had known of 24 companies and subsidies totalling Ft 400 million. Budai said the ministry had kept the affected ministries under surveillance after a tip-off in February but denied that the case is a political one.

Dialogue for Hungary MP Rebeka Szabó and Socialist MP Zoltán Gõgös urged the resignation of Regional Development Minister Sándor Fazekas.

She said the arrest shows the government’s “corrupt, dilettante” actions adding that the case casts a pall over the ministry, to which the MVH is directly subordinated.

Source: Hungary Around the Clock

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