Speaking at the event, Benedek Jávor, an MEP delegated by the opposition Dialogue for Hungary party, said that Hungary’s central budget is estimated to have lost about 1,000 billion forints (EUR 3.3bn) per year in unpaid VAT.

He said that governments of EU member states had suffered combined losses of 200 billion euros per year due VAT fraud, and since revenues in the EU are tied to VAT payments made by the individual member states, unpaid VAT directly affects the common EU budget.

The alleged Hungarian VAT fraud therefore affects the EU directly, he said, adding that the petition could be a good way of mobilising EU institutions.

Gábor Vágó, a former green LMP party lawmaker, said the petition provides the EP committee with an outline of the alleged fraud brought to light by former tax office employee András Horváth, who in November 2013 claimed that the tax office NAV had turned a blind eye to VAT fraud on the scale of one thousand billion forints a year.

Horváth said today that no investigation has been conducted by the government despite the fact that he has been out in the public with the issue for now 15 months.

Vágó said the petition’s aim is to ask the EP to set up a body tasked with scrutinising VAT fraud on a European level and to set up a European-level prosecution because the Hungarian public prosecutor had “failed to act”.

Further, they ask the EP to urge more active cooperation among relevant authorities of the EU member states and to draft a comprehensive anti-corruption strategy. They also asked the European Commission to launch a direct investigation into the Hungarian case.

Source www.hungarymatters.hu

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