For Hungarians living in deep poverty, the world has turned upside down since the coronavirus lockdown. Although poor rural communities have not yet seen a breakout but most jobs are gone and with no savings and barely enough food left, people cannot afford to buy even disinfectants. So far, the government has failed to take action, leaving thousands of starving families without help.
Continue readingAll posts by Wirth Zsuzsanna
„By now, no one can give even a piece of bread”
After 15 years of constant reorganization, Hungarian epidemiology was hit hard by coronavirus
Socialist governments crippled the network of state laboratories, Fidesz cut the epidemiologists’ central institution into pieces before trying to reverse the restructuring. Hungarian epidemiology struggles with the pandemic in a weakened state.
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God sent this investment. Or the Devil
Tricksters from a Kyiv-based call center have defrauded vulnerable people from all around the world, luring them with empty promises of profitable investments. Direkt36 has found several Hungarian victims who talk about the psychology of the online fraud machine and what hurts the most.
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„Sold her home to pay, no money, crying”
More than a thousand victims from over 50 countries of the world, among them dozens of Hungarians, were ripped off by sales managers of a company in Ukraine where the boss is known as the ‘Wolf of Kyiv’. The lucrative business was uncovered by an international investigation in which Direkt36 took part from Hungary.
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Hungarians could live 5 months longer, but government halts program tackling air pollution
Pollution from fine particulate matter is very high in Hungary, among the worst in the EU and the OECD. The government is aware, a solution has been prepared, but the plans were eventually halted.
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He was an interpreter for the Hungarian Prime Minister’s friend. Now he is a major player in state-funded railway projects
Ferenc Sakalj helped the billionaire Lőrinc Mészáros to buy a house on a Croatian island. He soon became a powerful sports manager and a railway company owner.
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The minister had done official business with them, now his wife rents an office from their partner
Cecília Rogán chose to rent an office for her company from a businessman close to two hotel investors. Her husband, the minister used to have good official connections to them.
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I got used to politicians being angry with me. But this was different
Zsuzsanna Wirth tells the inside story of her reporting that infuriated state minister László Tasó.
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Family of influential opposition figure owns luxury yacht in Croatia
Former treasurer of the Hungarian Socialist party has a luxury yacht in Croatia with estimated market value of 260 thousand euros.
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The state minister issued denials and made threats. Then quietly corrected his wealth declarations
Nine more politicians declared previously hidden assets or state subsidies, after Direkt36 exposed mistakes in their wealth declarations. 27 million missing forints got included in the declarations, and several apologies were made.
Continue readingWe looked into politicians’ assets. Police started a harassment investigation
A Direkt36 has revealed how several politicians filed incorrect or incomplete wealth declarations. Minister of state László Tasó was among them. He turned to the police claiming that he and his family were harassed. The police have launched an investigation.
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Opposition politician appears to be almost penniless. But his companies are quite well off
There are serious problems with the current Hungarian wealth declarations system. László Varju’s declarations show almost nothing of his real wealth.
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Here’s how the relatives of a state minister benefited from EU projects
In recent years, people close to State Minister, László Tasó have found themselves in an advantageous position during major EU-funded renovations in Nyíradony, like in the case of a renovated hunting mansion. Tasó used to be the mayor of the city for 20 years, his local influence is still obvious, but he claims all these to be trumped-up connections.
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A senior government official concealed his lands and millions
Direkt36 and its partners have built a database to uncover the hidden controversies of politicians’ wealth declarations. Minister of State László Tasó, for example, concealed some of his lands for years and forgot to declare millions of state subsidies.
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