Prime minister’s son-in-law gets hefty dividend from his company

Forrás: 7/24 Hírműsor

István Tiborcz, the son-in-law of Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán, has taken 460 million forints (1.5 million euros) in dividend from his IT company, the firm's annual report shows. Tiborcz bought the company, HCS Experts, last year when his previous company, Elios Innovatív, came under public scrutiny because of its controversial victories in public tenders.

Tiborcz sold his shares in Elios last year because, according to press reports, he wanted to stay away from public procurements. One month before selling his ownership he bought a new company, HCS Experts. His new company, HCS Experts, did not participate in procurements but has nearly doubled its revenue since he took over the firm.

HCS Experts was founded in 2011, and before Tiborcz bought it, the company was mainly involved in the communication and advisory business, the previous owner told Direkt36. In the first year after its foundation the company had a revenue of 4 million forints (12,7 thousand euros), a year later it was 40 million forints (127 thousand euros), and when Tiborcz bough it was over 500 million forints (1.5 million euros).

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The company “followed the most recent developments in the field of information technology and headed for new challenges” after the change in its owners, says a statement on the company’s website. Other than that the website reveals little about the activities of the company. It is involved in designing telecommunication and low-votage systems, and in telecommunication services. The company is managed by Tiborcz’s sibling.

According to the newest balance sheet of HCS Experts published on Monday, following new challenges paid off. The company’s revenues raised by 400 million forints (1.2 million euros), reaching almost 1 billion forints (2.7 million euros) in total. After taxes the profit was 389,8 million forints (1.2 million euros), and Tiborcz decided to take out the whole amount in dividends. It was also stated in the balance sheet that the dividend approved after last year’s profit – around 70 million forints (223 thousand euros) – has not yet been paid, so Tiborcz received that amount as well.

HCS Experts is not running on public tenders, although it appeared as a subcontractor in one. A company called Sagemcom Magyarország Ltd. commissioned HCS Experts to put information boards to bus stops. The 52.2 thousand euros project was funded by the EU. HCS Experts got 18 percent of the project money, so it was only an inessential part of the company’s revenues.