Long-term car rental is a very expensive solution but it has the advantage of keeping the client using the car in secret. Antal Rogán and his wife, as well as the former deputy mayor of a Budapest district and former wife of Árpád Habony all used this option for several years. The car renting company has won several high-value state contracts in the past years.
Continue readingCategory Archives: Hidden assets
How Orbán’s chief of staff and people close to him have used luxury cars in secret
Elegant flat beside the Danube and Romanian lands remained invisible in Hungarian legislator’s asset declaration
Erik Bánki said that he currently “halfway” lives in the elegant Roman Wellness Home gated community, although there is no sign of this in his asset declarations. He did not declare the flat and over 100 hectares of land in Romania because they were owned by his companies, not by him personally.
Continue readingFailed Bioethanol Project in Romania Leaves Unanswered Questions for Hungarian Legislator
Erik Bánki, a senior member of Hungary’s governing Fidesz party owns a lot of land in Hungary, but now we have also found his lands in Romania. He bought them for a huge bioethanol project, but it is unclear how he financed the purchases. According to him, various companies gave him loans, but he doesn’t remember their names.
Continue readingHungarian MPs waste millions on hidden, dusty and expensive offices
A joint investigation by Direkt36 and RTL Klub has revealed that members of parliament often misuse money allocated to office renting.
Continue readingMeet the MP who left out nearly 5 million euros of his wealth declarations
Sándor Farkas, a member of parliament from the governing Fidesz party, does not think that this is a problem.
Continue readingFamily 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.
Continue readingThe 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 readingSeveral MPs failed to declare subsidies received from the state
“I did not have any clue that this needs to be declared,” said one state minister. Other officials also argued that the declaration system is too complicated.
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.
Continue readingOpposition 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.
Continue readingWhen a politician’s wealth is hidden with the spouse
The case of Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orbán shows how easily politicians can hide their assets with the help of their family members. And Orbán is only one of many examples.
Continue readingAn MP’s company received millions of public funds. His wealth declaration shows nothing of it
Zsolt Becsó, an MP of the governing party omitted a company and millions of public funds from his wealth declarations. Becsó took advantage of the flaws of the declaration system.
Continue readingHungarian PM’s errors also show the weakness of the wealth declaration system
Details of the land purchases of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Obán remained hidden for years because he did not file his wealth declarations according to the law.
Continue readingHere’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.
Continue readingAnother Fidesz MP omitted an asset from his wealth declaration
Imre Pesti, a member of the governing party, failed to declare his right to use a property. Such assets have to be reported and several of his fellow politicians followed this rule, still, Pesti thinks that he did not do anything wrong.
Continue readingA 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.
Continue readingPublic records on politically sensitive lands withheld from Direkt36
We wanted to look into public property data in the home town of the Hungarian prime minister. At first, we had access to the data, but since the beginning of April the authorities refuse to give out data, which is public by law. The land registry claims to protect the privacy of the estate owners from us.
Continue readingIn Hungary, land records are public. Except in politically sensitive areas
Our reporter was denied access to public records when she was looking for property data in an area where the Hungarian prime minister’s family also owns lands.
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