In the case of Magyar, of the Tisza Party, the deputy chief prosecutor has moved to suspend his parliamentary immunity following the reopening of an investigation by the Central Chief Prosecutor's Office of Investigation (KNYF) into the offence of theft -- prompted by the termination of his status as a member of the European Parliament.

According to a statement issued by the Chief Public Prosecutor's Office in September 2024, Magyar had been at a club in Budapest in the early hours of June 21, 2024, when he took the mobile phone from a man who was filming him, and "deliberately dropped it into the Danube".

At the time of the offence, Magyar was an MEP, so Peter Polt, the chief public prosecutor at the time, submitted a request to the President of the European Parliament to waive his parliamentary immunity. This was rejected by the EP, as a result, the KNYF discontinued the proceedings.

Following the expiry of Magyar's mandate as an MEP and his resulting parliamentary immunity on May 8 of this year, the KNYF ordered the resumption of the criminal proceedings.

Magyar has been an MP since May 9 and is therefore also entitled to parliamentary immunity. It is only possible to conduct criminal proceedings against an MP - and thus to further clarify the details of the case - once parliamentary immunity had been suspended.

The motion to lift opposition Fidesz MP Balazs Hanko's parliamentary immunity is due to an ongoing investigation into the offence of misuse of public funds.

According to the statement, during the operation of the National Cultural Fund (NKA), the Temporary College for Outstanding Cultural Programmes (KKPIK) was used for unlawful activities under the direction of Hanko, who was the minister responsible for culture and innovation in the previous government and chairman of the fund.

Between September last year and April this year, assets managed by the NKA were used in 1,079 instances, contrary to the purposes set out in the Act on the NKA, on the basis of grant agreements issued in the name of the KKPIK, thereby causing a financial loss of 17.3 billion forints (EUR 48m) to the central budget.

The suspension of opposition Christian Democrats MP Miklos Sesztak’s parliamentary immunity has been proposed as a result of an ongoing investigation into the offence of accepting bribes in public office and other criminal offences.

Based on the details of the investigation, it is alleged that between 2015 and 2018 the former minister and chief executive of the Hungarian National Asset Management Agency received, via an intermediary, a total of more than 11 billion forints in unlawful benefits from a representative of companies with contractual ties to state-owned bus company Volanbusz.

The Chief Public Prosecutor's Office said that parliament is authorised by law to suspend the parliamentary immunity of the three MPs.

Janos Boka, the leader of Fidesz's parliamentary group, said the procedure against Hanko was a "show trial". The request to suspend Hanko's immunity "is the latest manifestation of political authocracy," Boka said in a video on Facebook.

Sesztak said in a statement on the Christian Democrats' website: "I have not committed any criminal offence, nor am I aware of any criminal offence having been committed," adding that every element of the prosecution’s suspicion against him was unfounded, and that he was prepared at any time to appear before any authority, make a statement and defend his case.

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

MTI photo 

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