Direkt36 also revealed <\/a>that Szil\u00e1rd Benk\u0151, who used to work as an instrument maker, bought Verbau Kft in 2022 after the company won a contract to build a factory in Kecskem\u00e9t with a HUF 1 billion (EUR 2.5 million) state subsidy. Earlier, we asked Benk\u0151 how much exactly he bought Verbau for and from what source he financed the purchase, but we did not get an answer.<\/p>\n We also asked Szil\u00e1rd Benk\u0151 about the works related to the BMW factory, and sent questions to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and BMW. Only BMW responded, but even they could not provide information about “existing, suspected, potential and non-partnering” suppliers and their subcontractors.<\/p>\n In July 2018, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade P\u00e9ter Szijj\u00e1rt\u00f3 held a press conference at the Ministry with R\u00f3bert \u00c9sik, the then head of the Hungarian Investment Promotion Agency (HIPA) and L\u00e1szl\u00f3 Papp, Mayor of Debrecen. Here he announced that German car giant BMW will build its new car plant in Hungary, near Debrecen.\u00a0 The minister said that the decision had been preceded by 14 months of negotiations and that he had personally held several meetings with members of the car manufacturer’s board.<\/p>\n Peter Szijjarto made plenty of announcements about the BMW factory – photo: Facebook page of the minister.<\/p><\/div>\n A few months later, at the University of Debrecen, Szijj\u00e1rt\u00f3 revealed further details. He said that the government had made commitments to bring the negotiations with BMW to a successful conclusion. One of these commitments was that the government would provide HUF 12.3 billion (EUR 31 million) funding for the investment.<\/p>\n In 2023, it was also revealed that the project will be much bigger than previously planned, as the Chinese company EVE Power will also build a factory in the area near Debrecen with the cooperation of BMW. This is where the batteries for BMW’s electric cars will be made. The Hungarian government has also provided HUF 14 billion (EUR 35 million) in non-refundable subsidies for the construction of the battery factory.<\/p>\n One of the important tasks of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade is to encourage foreign companies to invest in Hungary, and in the case of the BMW plant, the government’s face of the project has been the Minister himself, P\u00e9ter Szijj\u00e1rt\u00f3. He kept the public informed of any new developments in the project. In his speeches, he referred to the automotive industry as the backbone of the Hungarian economy and to the construction of the BMW plant as a guarantee of long-term economic growth.<\/p>\n In recent years, Szijj\u00e1rt\u00f3 has logged on to social media from BMW’s headquarters in Munich, Bavaria, he was present at the groundbreaking ceremony of the Debrecen plant and regularly explained the benefits the investment will bring to Hungary. He has also been known to get carried away, on one occasion calling a vice president of the European Parliament a hater<\/a>\u00a0of Hungarians for arguing that the factory should be built elsewhere.<\/p>\n In addition to the very substantial subsidy of more than HUF 26 billion (EUR 66 million), the government has also decided on infrastructure development worth several billion forints in recent years. While the local people benefit from these developments, the BMW factory will be the primary beneficiary. These include improvements to the area’s road, rail and water networks. Together, these will bring the total investment to the order of HUF hundreds of billions. In 2019 G7 reported <\/a>that the development of the economic zone linked to the factory will cost the Hungarian state around HUF 130 billion (EUR 328 million).<\/p>\n Several large government-affiliated companies have been awarded HUF billions in public contracts for the gigantic project. Istv\u00e1n Garancsi’s company Market Zrt. received 22 billion HUF (EUR 55 million) for landscaping and drainage works in the project area. The company called Duna Aszfalt Zrt. owned by L\u00e1szl\u00f3 Szijj, who owns the yacht where the Foreign Minister was on vacation, received a road construction contract worth HUF 8.6 billion (EUR 22 million).<\/p>\n Szijj\u00e1rt\u00f3 led the negotiations – photo: Facebook page of the minister<\/p><\/div>\n Among the infrastructure developments, several railway construction projects have been given to L\u0151rinc M\u00e9sz\u00e1ros’s company V-H\u00edd Zrt. For example, the company owned by the former mayor of Felcs\u00fat is carrying out the modernization of the Debrecen-F\u00fczesabony railway line number 108, which runs near the BMW factory, as part of a HUF 65 billion (EUR 164 million) contract. This is one of the most expensive parts of the whole project.<\/p>\n Verbau Ltd. also has a role in this railway development project. In a social media post in January 2023, the company announced that it had taken part in the development of the railway line between Debrecen and F\u00fczesabony with a 95,000 square metre concrete paving project.<\/p>\n The details of this task are not available from public procurement databases, as Verbau is likely to have been a minor subcontractor. It is therefore not possible to know exactly how much the company received for the work. A source in the construction industry, who asked not to be named and who was familiar with market prices, told us that the type of concrete Verbau was laying in this project costs between 15 and 16 thousand forints per square metre. On this basis, such a job would cost between HUF 1.4 billion and HUF 1.5 billion (EUR 3.5-3.8 million) at market prices, including material and labour costs.<\/p>\n The Kecskem\u00e9t-based company said in a post about the work that they had made their mark in Hajd\u00fa-Bihar County. This certainly worked out well, because a few months later, in November 2023, Verbau Kft. announced that they were working on BMW’s gigantic factory in Debrecen. According to the post, which is illustrated with photos, the company is building 5 football pitches-sized, 36,000 square metres of industrial flooring for the factory being built on behalf of BMW. According to the source asked by Direkt36, the cost of laying the industrial flooring is around 20-22 thousand forints per square metre. The market price for this work is therefore somewhere between HUF 700 and 800 million (EUR 1.7-2 million)<\/p>\n We asked Verbau how much they received for these contracts. We did not receive a reply to our questions.<\/p>\n Verbau Ltd. is a Kecskem\u00e9t-based company founded in 1995, which has been a well-known player in the construction industry for decades. The company has changed owners several times following the corona-virus pandemic, and was bought in 2022 by P\u00e9ter Szijj\u00e1rt\u00f3’s old acquaintance Szil\u00e1rd Benk\u0151.<\/p>\n As Direkt36 previously revealed, Szil\u00e1rd Benk\u0151 bought the company in 2022 after Verbau won a state-supported project to build a factory. That project was the construction of the Hilti factory in Kecskem\u00e9t, which was provided by the state with HUF 1.1 billion (EUR 2.7 million) funding. The funding was channeled through the Hungarian Investment Promotion Agency (HIPA), a back office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.<\/p>\nThe backbone of the Hungarian economy<\/strong><\/h2>\n
![\"Peter](\"https:\/\/assets.telex.hu\/images\/20240814\/1723634949-temp-gMkolE_cikktorzs:xl.jpg\")
Businesses close to the government<\/strong><\/h2>\n
![\"Szijj\u00e1rt\u00f3](\"https:\/\/assets.telex.hu\/images\/20240814\/1723635011-temp-aphegl_cikktorzs:xl.jpg\")
Only the Foreign Office<\/strong><\/h2>\n