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Szeged court hears fraud case involving EU funds
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A Szeged court, in southern Hungary, on Tuesday held the first hearing in a case involving five suspects charged with the abuse of European Union and domestic funds totalling 550 million forints (EUR 1.5m).
According to the indictment, the primary and secondary defendants applied for EU funding to set up a model park exhibiting small replicas of 50 major monuments of pre-WWI Hungary. The 648 million forint project was awarded a 550 million forint grant in 2010, but was plagued by problems from the start.
The primary defendant in the case is one of the former owners and managers of Szeviép Zrt, a construction company that has been since wound up.
According to the charges, the defendants presented false reports of the project’s progress, fully aware that the completed components actually were shoddy and overpriced.
It is astonishing that EU funds were made available for such a silly project in the first place!