Speaking at a press conference, LMP deputy István Ikotity noted that over 266,000 supporters have signed up to hold a referendum on the Olympic plans, and insisted that “now the government is pretending as if it had nothing to do with the bid” submitted “under a government decision and without consulting residents”. Ikotity said that the 10 billion forints (EUR 32.4m) allocated to cover the costs of making the bid had been fully disbursed by the end of last year.

He accused the government of using a large sum of the money fraudulently to finance its “communications machinery”.

Republished with permission of Hungary Matters, MTI’s daily newsletter.

MTI photo: Balogh Zoltán