"However, in the interests of the investigation, we are unable to provide any further information," the police added in connection with the proceedings conducted by the National Bureau of Investigation of the Standby Police.

On Aug 11, the Prime Minister’s Office announced that it had filed a complaint against an unidentified perpetrator on suspicion of misuse of funds and abuse of office, after reviewing the most recent contracts - totalling 4 billion forints (EUR 11m) of public funds - connected to the former prime minister’s social media appearances.

The owner of the company commissioned without a public procurement procedure is Fanny Kaminski, Orban’s press adviser.

The Prime Minister’s Cabinet Office, led by Antal Rogan under the previous government, concluded a framework agreement with Triton Communications in 2022 concerning Orban's social media presence.

Initially, a monthly fee of 63,680,000 forints was agreed with Kaminski, the company’s director, and Triton was required to produce photographs and videos, as well as social media monitoring reports in line with the contract.

It was extended four times, with the fee increased on each occasion, and following last September, a monthly 86,487,000 forints was paid to the company employing five people, while the content requirements remained unchanged.

According to the reports, over the 44 months since 2022, the company received 4,228,924,813 forints gross in public funds from the Prime Minister's Cabinet Office.

"According to publicly available data, this represents at least a threefold overcharge even by international standards. Furthermore, the contract was exempted from the public procurement procedure on the grounds that the prime minister is a protected person," the statement said.

The Prime Minister's Cabinet Office entered into a contract with Kaminski's company for a sum several times the market price, excluding genuine competition, it added.

In a Facebook post, Kaminski responded by saying that the government had made "misleading claims" about her company.

She said Triton Communications had carried out all the tasks undertaken in the contract and could provide a detailed account of this. She added that while the contract value had indeed risen over the course of four years, the increase had kept pace with inflation.

Kaminski said that she accepted that the new government was reviewing its predecessor’s contracts, but she did not consider it acceptable that, in the process, "a properly operated Hungarian business is being cast under suspicion using cherry-picked figures, concealed facts and misleading insinuations."

According to a statement by Fidesz’s communications director, Kaminski and her company were being "attacked for clearly political reasons, as she has demonstrably fulfilled her duties".

Bertalan Havasi said the company in question had carried out duties for the prime minister for four years from 2022, being available seven days a week, 24 hours a day.

"As [current Prime Minister] Peter Magyar's Facebook government demonstrates its incompetence and helplessness day in, day out, all that remains is to point the finger back," Havasi said.

Source: MTI – Hungary’s national news agency since 1881.

Photo: Orbán Viktor's Facebook page

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