Two-thirds of the losses were incurred by banks that received their licences after the supervisory authority PSZÁF was merged with the National Bank of Hungary (NBH), he said.

Veres said that an amendment passed in 2009 mandating screenings of financial organisations at least every five years had been a tightening rather than a loosening of the law.

He added that Fidesz lawmakers at the time had supported the amendment and no changes had been made to it since. Parliament’s budget committee, which was to have been briefed on the Buda-Cash scandal on Monday took the Buda-Cash item off the agenda.

Nine governing-party lawmakers voted in favour of removing the item and 5 opposition lawmakers voted against.

Neither Matolcsy nor Economy Minister Mihály Varga responded to an invitation to give a briefing at the meeting. Sándor Burány, (Socialist) head of the budget committee, told reporters before the meeting that the reason why the Buda-Cash scandal was relevant for the committee is that it involved public funds, and compensation would require “heavy payments” from central coffers.

Lajos Szűcs, a lawmaker for the Fidesz party, had argued that it was sufficient to address the issue in parliament’s economic committee, where former finance ministers and financial regulators had been invited.

The radical nationalist Jobbik party said the scandal could have been uncovered as early as in 2010 if a motion by Jobbik to make screenings at financial institutions more frequent had been passed, but these motions had been rejected by Fidesz.

Source www.hungarymatters.hu

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MTI photo: Bruzák Noémi