9 More People Investigated in EU Tenders Bribery Case in Hungary
- 6 Mar 2023 5:58 AM
- Hungary Matters
Prosecutorial investigators are investigating nine people in connection with suspected bribery pertaining to European Union tenders, bringing the overall number of suspects to 34, the Central Investigative Prosecutor’s Office said.
Last April, prosecutorial investigators questioned 18 people suspected of corruption related to tenders involving Hungarian state budget and European Union funds as part of the Economic Development and Innovation Operational Programme (GINOP), and the prosecutor’s office also seized ill-gotten assets.
On March 2, the authorities carried out further raids at the headquarters of business companies and other places in 17 locations nationwide, conducting searches and seizures.
These raids were also made in connection with applications submitted within the framework of the Health Industry Support Programme, with 400 million forints (EUR 1.1m) being the minimum possible support, the statement said.
The bribery cases involve nine officials and 11 other individuals. In April last year, prosecutors examined graft around applications for tenders in the region of ten billion forints. Three finance ministry employees were suspected of accepting bribes and other crimes.
Gergely Gulyás, the head of the Prime Minister’s Office, said at the time that the highest-ranking suspect was a head of department at the PM’s office who was involved in assessing applications, but this individual had been suspected of minor fraud.
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