Head of NKE University sees ‘concerted campaign’ behind LMP’s ‘attacks’

Responding to political opposition accusations of financial impropriety, András Patyi, the rector of the National Public Service University (NKE), on Sunday complained that he and the university were victims of a “concerted” smear campaign against them. 

Green opposition LMP co-leader Ákos Hadházy has accused the NKE of soliciting EU funding multiple times for identical projects, overpricing and unjustified spending. He said

EU auditors had raised the alarm over “extremely serious abuses” suspected at the university, adding that Patyi may bear criminal responsibility. 

Patyi said in a statement yesterday that the university “has nothing to hide” and was open to investigation.

LMP recently published a list of public figures that the party plans to make the subject of criminal proceedings, and Patyi was on the list both in his capacity as NKE rector and the head of the national election committee.

Patyi said he was shocked not only about the number of attacks but also about “their crude nature which lack any professionalism”.

He said attacks against him conflated his roles as rector and head of the election office. This, he said, was borne out by a leaked list of public figures in which he was singled out as someone who “prevents referendums”. LMP has made numerous failed attempts to launch referendums on the expansion of the Paks nuclear power plant, he noted.

Patyi said

the NKE drew EU funding in cooperation with at least fifty partners, including 15 universities. Hadházy’s “empty attacks” were therefore “made against the scientific community”, he insisted.