Politicians, whistleblowers turn to EP cttee over Hungary “VAT fraud”

Budapest, February 9 (MTI) – A former lawmaker of the opposition LMP party and two former tax office employees will submit a joint petition to the European Parliament’s Petitions Committee over “the VAT fraud issue” in Hungary, it was announced at a press conference on Monday.

Speaking at the event, Benedek Javor, an MEP delegated by the opposition Dialogue for Hungary party, said that Hungary’s central budget is estimated to have lost about 1,000 billion forints (EUR 3,3bn) per year in unpaid VAT.

He said that governments of EU member states had suffered combined losses of 200 billion euros per year due VAT fraud, and since revenues in the EU are tied to VAT payments made by the individual member states, unpaid VAT directly affects the common EU budget. The alleged Hungarian VAT fraud therefore affects the EU directly, he said, adding that the petition could be a good way of mobilising EU institutions.

Gabor Vago, a former green LMP party lawmaker, said the petition provides the EP committee with an outline of the alleged fraud brought to light by former tax office employee Andras Horvath.