Hungary’s HR ministry rejects corruption allegations

Budapest, August 8 (MTI) – The human resources ministry on Monday rejected allegations by the opposition Socialist Party that it was involved in a scheme to take bribes from social cooperatives in exchange for favours in their bids for EU money.

Political weekly 168 Óra said last week that in 2015 Fidesz MP Roland Mengyi had solicited bribes from social cooperatives in exchange for preferential treatment in the bidding process for EU funding.

Earlier on Monday the Socialist Party demanded that Human Resources Minister Zoltán Balog reveal “when and from whom” he had found out about Mengyi’s “dealings” and what sort of ministry investigation he plans to launch.

The human resources ministry rejected the Socialist Party’s accusations in a statement, saying that the party “is trying to smear the ministry citing press reports”. The ministry said the bids for Social Renewal Operative Programme funds mentioned in 168 Óra’s article were rejected by the ministry. Since there were no grant agreements signed, there was no way for the EU funds to be misused, the ministry argued.