LMP accuses govt control office of “stealing” EU money

Budapest (MTI) – The opposition LMP party has accused the Government Control Office (KEHI) of embezzling 17 million forints (EUR 53,450) of EU money.

KEHI, which is in charge of overseeing public spending, had called a tender for a study on its own organisational development, said Akos Hadhazy, the party’s spokesman for anti-corruption affairs. The office accepted bids by two firms, Telos Partners and Meritum Novum, which he said were professionally unqualified for the task, Hadhazy said. Telos won the tender.

The outcome of Telos’s study is a three-page decree by KEHI’s president on assessing the office’s IT hardware needs, the LMP politician said, adding that the entire process had been superfluous.

“KEHI has stolen the EU money,” Hadhazy said.

KEHI responded by dismissing LMP’s charges, stating that the office had won 27 million forints in funding in a tender under the EU’s State Reform Operational Programme and this spending had been legally accounted for.