He said Hungarians had watched helplessly for decades as politicians, ministers, MPs and prime ministers, both from Fidesz and other parties, amassed fabulous wealth.

"We all saw and felt that such enrichment would have been impossible based on their legal salaries," he added.

A lawmaker's or minister's salary could not buy castles or fabulous wealth, or build business empires, Magyar said. From one year to the next, a salary could not cover hundreds of millions of forints worth of property, companies, investments and a lifestyle completely unrelated to their declared income.

"Yet they did it, because they could. But now that ends," Magyar said.

The prime minister said the asset scrutiny would cover every MP, prime minister, minister, state secretary, government commissioner and prime ministerial commissioner whose mandate ended in the past five years. It would also cover those who currently hold or will hold these positions in the future, he added. In their case, the tax authority will start checks two years after their first appointment.

If someone from the current parliament or government resigns or is dismissed, the tax authority will automatically launch an audit within 30 days to check whether the politician's assets and lifestyle match their declared income and asset declarations, he said.

"The tax authority will uncover everything: property, bank accounts, corporate interests, insurance, investments, and any assets previously hidden, and compare them with asset declarations, then carry out a risk analysis," he added.

"From now on, the era in which Fidesz politicians cynically wrote whatever they wanted in their asset declarations while everyone saw that their real lifestyle and the wealth they declared bore no relation to each other is over," Magyar said.

He also said the tax authority could examine asset accumulation going back up to 20 years and the investigation would also cover the assets of relatives. If someone tried to hide their assets by transferring them to another person or company, the tax authority would also investigate this transfer of assets, he added.

"If the tax authority finds everything in order, the procedure will be closed. If, however, it finds discrepancies between assets and declared income that indicate tax evasion or illegal income, it will launch a detailed tax audit," he said.

If there is suspicion of a crime, it will notify the tax authority's investigative body and send a report to the National Asset Recovery and Protection Office, the prosecutor's office or the police, he added.

Transparency and public disclosure, he said, would be an important part of the system. The tax authority will publish monthly how many such audits it has carried out, in how many cases suspicion of a crime emerged, and how many detailed tax audits were launched, he said.

If a politician or former government official is found to have a tax shortfall of at least 5 million forints, their name, position and the established tax shortfall will be published on the tax authority's list, the prime minister said.

"We know full well that many will attack the asset scrutiny system. There are many who do not want serious cases of public fund embezzlement to come to light, and we know them well. But let them attack. It will be a sign that we are moving in the right direction," he said, adding that the goal was not revenge but building a Hungary where the law applied equally to everyone.

"From the humblest manual worker in the smallest village to the country's prime minister, where honest work is valued again, public funds are sacred, and actions have consequences," Magyar concluded.
 

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

MTI Photo 

*********************************************************************************************

You're very welcome to comment, discuss and enjoy more stories via our Facebook page: 

Facebook.com/XpatLoopNews + via XpatLoop’s groups: Budapest Expats / Expats Hungary

You can subscribe to our newsletter here: XpatLoop.com/Newsletters