While Gábor Csobánczy, deputy mayor of Budapest, has nothing according to his asset declaration, the Mediaworks News Center scrutinized the network of companies connected to the politician, and it was found that he runs a group of companies consisting of several companies with assets of hundreds of millions on a daily basis.

The politician has a company registered in Slovakia, he was in a leading position in a company operating in Dubai that also helps tax evasion during his time as deputy mayor, and he tried to hide a third of a valuable property in Budavar through his companies. In addition to all of this, he even stooped for the little things: his cafe received a non-refundable subsidy from the local government, which he also leads.

Summary:

  • According to his declaration of assets, Gábor Csobánczy, deputy mayor of Budavár DK, has no property.
    • The company associated with the deputy mayor, Gold Group Hungary Kft., operates a hotel in Jégverem Street in District I.
    You can book a room by phone by calling Gábor Csobánczy. • On paper, Csobánczy has nothing to do with Gold Group Hungary, it is managed and owned by Dóra Pető, the politician's son.
    The two of them have the same registered address, and Csobánczy also determines the day-to-day operation of some of the companies run by the lady. • The deputy mayor was a member of the board of a company operating in Dubai that also helps tax evasion between March 2016 and May 2020.
    Csobánczy's portrait was still visible on the company's website for months after his appointment as deputy mayor. • The politician obtained non-reimbursable local government assistance for his café operated through his straw man, the contract was signed by Mayor Márta V. Naszályi.
    • Gábor Csobánczy has a company in Slovakia, which is in his own name and is managed by another company.
    This company is the owner of two Hungarian companies, and assets of more than two hundred million are concentrated in the two domestic companies. • The deputy mayor hid the ownership share of a significant house in Buda in his companies.

Gábor Csobánczy is the poorest municipal politician in Budavar. According to his property declaration, he has no real estate, no car, no savings, and no income other than his salary, but he has a HUF 36 million debt to a private individual. On paper. The reality is quite different.

 "Jewelry box under Buda Castle"

"Hello?" Here you go, Csobánczy! - said the deputy mayor of the 1st district on the phone after we called the accommodation located in the Sőtér villa, which can be found on Google and several sites offering accommodation under the name "Jewelry Box Under the Buda Castle". The number belonging to the "hotel" is Gábor Csobánczy's own phone number. We signed in as tourists, and after the deputy mayor told us the information, he directed us to his colleague, Dóra Pető. As will become clear from our article, Pető is a politician's stream, he leads many Csobánczy interests on paper, but the decisions and often the day-to-day operations are determined by the Deputy Mayor of District I. The most important connection between the two is that Dóra Pető and Gábor Csobánczy have the same address according to the company records. In addition, they succeeded each other in the executive chair in several previous companies led by the politician, such as Prepaid Kft. and Ebéd Elek Kft.

The hotel located at Jégverem utca 5 is operated by Gold Group Hungary Kft., whose managing director is the aforementioned Dóra Pető, Csobánczy apparently has no interest in the company according to Opten's company database, so it is already questionable why she manages the reservations.

The Sőtér-villa building was previously owned by Gábor Csobánczy, then it changed hands several times, and since 2017 it has been owned by Watercity Zrt., whose CEO is Tamás Leisztinger, a close confidant of MSZP billionaire Tamás Leisztinger. The strange thing about Watercity is that, according to Opten's database, their public contact is the e-mail address of Dórá Pető Csobánczy.

It is interesting that in connection with the accommodation, several former guests mentioned in their reviews that they could not pay by card, only in cash, and that one guest was initially billed for a larger amount than he should have paid. According to the post, the misunderstanding has been cleared up.

 Tax evasion expert

Between March 2016 and May 2020, Csobánczy partnered with a Scientologist couple of Hungarian origin in a tax evasion company that is still operating in Dubai. During the mentioned period, Csobánczy's image was found on Al Manal Beacon LLC. company called Dubaicompanyexpert.com is available on its website. The portrait of the Democratic Coalition politician disappeared from the website in May 2020, i.e. seven months after his appointment as deputy mayor.

Al Manal helps clients set up a company in Dubai. According to the two most common constructions, someone can be a 100% owner of the company to be founded, but you can also choose to make a local citizen the majority owner, who is essentially a strawman. Al Manal provides a full range of services: they not only help with corporate affairs, but also help with visas.

An expert who publishes on the subject interviewed by the Mediaworks News Center said: Dubai is favorable from a tax point of view, but maintaining a company is quite expensive.

The companies that are most interested in the opportunities offered by Dubai are those that sign contracts for the use of intellectual creation and want to take the profits there.

said the expert. He added: Dubai is not a classic tax haven, companies created here are not usually used for tax evasion these days, but they are perfectly suited to hide transactions or, for example, assets that are demanded from someone in a court of law.

A 2016 post on Al Manal's Facebook page provides further arguments for considering Dórá Pető Csobánczy's stróman. - We would like to introduce our Hungarian partner, Gold Group Hungary Kft., and its top manager, Gábor Csobánczy. We entered into an agreement with Gold Group Hungary because we liked their enormous driving force, impressive professionalism and committed business ethics - Al Manal announced the cooperation. Here we should remind the reader: Gábor Csobánczy has nothing to do with Gold Group Kft. on paper, he was never an owner or manager.

Municipal aid to Csobánczy's cafe

In October 2020, the Budapest municipality gave a special gift to the over 65s living in the district: every pensioner with a registered address received a coupon worth HUF 1,500, with which they could buy coffee and cake in several cafes in the first district. Cafes could redeem the coupons at the municipality following the campaign, which was certainly created to save businesses that have been put in a difficult situation by the pandemic. One of the six cafes participating in the initiative was Main Street 25 Breakfast & Coffee, whose owner was Gold Group Hungary Kft., Dóra Pető's company - which also appeared in the Dubai company.

While the deputy mayor had nothing to do with the Main Street 25 Breakfast & Coffee cafe on paper, he shared the store's posts on his Facebook page several times, and visited it several times a week himself. But it assumes an even closer connection than this, that in a Facebook post on April 7, 2019, he gave his own e-mail address as a contact, on which he was waiting for the applications of hopeful bartenders and servers for the restaurant on Fő utca.

The full article HERE .

Featured Image: Facebook