Influence peddling: Hungarian Prosecutor General requests suspension of immunity of opposition MP

The Prosecutor General has initiated the suspension of the immunity of Zsolt Molnár, Member of Parliament of opposition MSZP for the crime of influence peddling, according to a press release of the Prosecutor General’s Office. MSZP (Magyar Szocialista Párt, Hungarian Socialist Party) is a centre-left social democratic party in Hungary, the governing party of Hungary between 2002 and 2010. It has been in opposition since 2010.

Former minister Ferenc Baja and his corrupt agreement

According to information from the prosecutor’s office, the Budapest Transport Company (Budapesti Közlekedési Vállalat, BKV) launched a public procurement procedure for the IT operation of its sites at the beginning of 2019. An ltd. submitted a bid for the public procurement procedure, 24.hu reports.

Ferenc Baja, former minister and former MSZP MP, met a man in Budapest in June 2019 who had significant influence in the company making the offer. Baja asked for HUF 30 million (now EUR 75,800) from the man, which was the only way the former minister would give the contract a free pass if the bidding company won.

Opposition MP Zsolt Molnár joins

Zsolt Molnár was informed about this corrupt deal. He asked the minister to request HUF 40 million (now EUR 101,000) for him from the man, in exchange for which he would not contest the contract. Allegedly, the man was Zsolt Fuzik, former IT manager of BKV and CBA.

The ltd. won the tender, and the man handed over HUF 40 million to Zsolt Molnár in Budapest on 6 August 2019,

Telex writes.

According to the prosecutor’s office, Zsolt Molnár committed the crime of influence peddling as an accomplice. Criminal proceedings will be launched and the issues clarified after the MP’s immunity has been lifted.

Zsolt Molnár’s earlier response to the bribery case

This is not the first time that the case has been brought up. The issue was raised two years ago, during the 2022 parliamentary election campaign. At the time, Molnár claimed that the only true part of the story was that he had met a man named Zsolt Fuzik once in his life, and they had talked for 20 minutes on a bench in a park near the Representatives’ Office Building (Képviselői Irodaház), Telex writes.