Vona says no accident Jobbik MEP spy case dragging on – Fidesz responds

Budapest, October 21 (MTI) – It is someone’s interest that the case involving a Jobbik MEP accused of spying should drag on as long as possible, the radical nationalist party’s leader said on Wednesday.

Gabor Vona told public television M1 that if Bela Kovacs, the MEP in question, is guilty of the charge then he would receive his punishment. But if he is not, then the ruling Fidesz party should apologise to him,” he added.

On Tuesday, Fidesz group leader Lajos Kosa said the Kovacs case was the biggest political corruption scandal of the post-communist era.

Kovacs’s immunity was lifted by the European Parliament last week.

Kosa said Jobbik had been vocal in accusing Fidesz and the government of corruption, “yet the most important question marks regarding corruption have showed exactly on Jobbik’s playing field”.

The lifting of an MEP’s immunity for suspected spying is unprecedented, he said. Kovacs allegedly passed on information to Russia, and Jobbik has received the bulk of its financial support with Kovacs’s help, Kosa said.