Public procurement and EU support scandal surrounding the Hungarian MEP representative's company(ies)?

It seems that the Hungarian left-wing media are still unable to deal with one of their biggest scandals: "Fidesz's propaganda discrediting continues to work by the thousands! But we would like to point out that this is a bit pathetic and not enough. In the absence of evidence, it is easy to slander." For example, Katalin Cseh tries to use such and similar adjectives on the forum called olkt.net, which can hardly be called a news site.

At the same time, based on the information published in the press, the Economic Competition Office launched an investigation into the fact that between 2013 and 2018, Pannónia Nyomda Kft., led by the current MEP representative, won several public procurement tenders in Ferencváros. One of the most striking features of the tenders is that, in order to get the best offer, Pannónia applied jointly with economic actors participating in the network of companies built by the Czech family's business partners. Katalin Cseh's company and the members of the company network have been able to win almost HUF 4.8 billion in EU support in recent years.

CXLIII of 2015 on public procurement. Act (hereinafter: Kbt.) Section 35 (1) of the common regulations for economic operators allows for several economic operators to jointly make an offer or submit an application for participation in public procurement tenders.

By definition, it should also apply to the tenders of the opposition-led local governments, that during the procedures of the public procurements they announce, they must pay special attention to avoiding situations that harm the integrity of the competition.

The essence of the conflict of interest in the Katalin Čeh case is that an economic operator may not submit an offer or an application for participation whose company's background clearly overlaps with the local government led by a specific party policy, which is the decision-maker in the given public procurement procedure, the tenderer - a participant in the public procurement procedure - the person of the EP representative who previously led a business company, and those entitled to make the company's decisions because of the business associates of the politician's family. And the possible political pressure, as a suspicious circumstance, can result in a very serious conflict of interest, if the accusations prove to be true in the case concerning the current politician.

The Kbt. Pursuant to § 73, collusion between companies - with the detriment of the integrity of competition - and the questionability of the purity of all public procurement bids or applications affected by overlapping may also be an aspect to be investigated by the authorities in public procurement cases like this (in connection with possible violations of the relevant anti-cartel regulations).

As for the specific case that triggered the scandal surrounding the EP representative Katalin Cseh, Mondat Kft., registered under the same address, even entered the same tender as Pannónia Nyomda Kft., for example, the tender issued by the Ferencvárosi Municipality for the printing works of the Ferencvárosi newspaper. Although requested by the contracting municipality, Mondat Kft. did not resolve the contradiction in the documentation that the company stated in its tender both the use of a subcontractor and the fact that it would not use a subcontractor. Pursuant to the public procurement legislation, it is a particularly important requirement for the contracting municipality to judge the fairness of the procedure and the conduct of the bidders during the public procurement, as well as the conditions of the subcontractor role (possible involvement as a subcontractor) in terms of whether they might violate the Civil Code. relevant principles. However, the left-wing district only partially met this expectation, and the suspicious circumstances of the bidding raise concerns of a conflict of interest from the outset.

The mentioned important development of the case is that the Public Procurement Authority (KH) also launched an investigation into the case of Pannónia Nyomda Kft. The company was established in 2010 by Tibor Cseh, the father of the current representative, and in 2013 he entrusted the management to his daughter, who was the company's managing director until 2018. Specifically, the authority initiated a contract inspection procedure. The Public Procurement Decision Committee operates within the authority itself, whose task will be to administer legal remedies for illegal or controversial cases related to the relevant municipal public procurements and procedures, and if it deems it necessary, the office can even annul procurement decisions related to the Czech scandal, legal violations and invalidity of contracts. it can establish or even fine - if it deems it necessary - in the case of companies connected to the current EP representative.

There is a chance for this, because at first fact-finding journalists found very suspicious public procurement collusion around the politician's companies. According to press reports, Katalin Cseh and her family businesses were able to obtain billions of HUF in EU support in an unfair manner, and according to experts, the case raises such serious moral problems - if the accusations against the representative prove to be true - that it could later lead to a serious loss of trust in the many years on the opposition side emphasizing the importance of the fight against corruption.

So far, the nature of the relationship between the representative's family company and the other companies involved in the tenders has not been satisfactorily clarified, however several personal connections can be found in the company network, and the companies of the involved old acquaintance of the Czech family, Gábor Halás, are in the same industrial park, at the same address are announced, such as that of Czech Pannonia.

Due to several billion forints worth of EU support, joint tenders, entanglements that were found to be suspicious and the official investigations that have started, the largest Hungarian ruling party, Fidesz, finally decided to turn to the European Anti-Fraud Office, OLAF, in the economic case of EP representative Katalin Cseh .

Dr. Zoltán Lomnici Jr

Opening image: magyarnemzet.hu