According to the crown witness, Gergely Karácsony's circle would have rigged the public procurement to make sure that the one they want wins - and the price of this is a two billion HUF commission, Magyar Hírlap reports .
As the police investigation into the City Hall case continues, the Crown witness spoke about interesting details. In addition to the two-billion-dollar commission requested on top of the official price, they also discussed the planned proceedings, during which they would have sat down to negotiate with Gergelly Karácsony or Deputy Mayor Kata Tüttő.
The crown witness of City Hall Gate, Imre Csák, told TV2 that Zsolt Berki, a commission agent of the Budapest municipality, tried to find a buyer for the building complex of the City Hall in Budapest using his network of contacts. At the meeting with the American and Arab investors brought by Csák, Berki asked for a "commission" of two billion forints in advance, i.e. corruption money, for closing the deal, which caused the potential buyers to abandon the deal. According to the crown witness, Berki said that he works directly for Balázs Barts, the head of the capital's asset management company, which was confirmed back.
The audio recordings made public by Anonymus last year revealed that a well-defined circle in the capital operates a commission system, that is, a corruption system. Zsolt Berki is also a member of this circle, who essentially collected the bribes requested after real estate sales in the capital and distributed them to the respective potentates.
"First we talked by e-mail, then by phone, and then there was a personal meeting," said the man, who also talked about the fact that if his client had signed Zsolt's commission contract, then he would have personally brought the investors to Barts.
The object of the contract would have been the City Hall building, with the exception of a small part. A new building would have been erected in part of the parking lot of the building complex, and during the construction, the Budapest municipality would have leased back the entire building complex from the new owner. According to Karácsony's election promise, a public park would otherwise have been built on the site of the planned new building.
The crown witness said that the purchase price at the very first meeting was thirty billion forints, "and then it changed to a hundred million euros", on top of which Berki asked for a commission of two billion forints. Csák was surprised that, unlike an average real estate business, where the seller pays the commission, here the buyer should have paid the commission based on a separate contract. They wanted to complete the deal before the elections, because the municipality was in dire need of the money.
Regarding the progress of the transaction, Berki gave the information that as soon as they agree on the commission, he will first take the client to Balázs Barts, and then they can sit down to negotiate with Gergelly Karácsony or Deputy Mayor Kata Tüttő. The crown witness basically talked about how the Berkis rigged the public procurement to ensure that whoever they wanted would win. Under these conditions, neither the American nor the Arab investor asked for the deal, because they were afraid that a scandal and even a police case could have erupted following the sale because of the commission and the fraudulent public procurement.
The capital tried so hard with the sale that, based on the audio materials made public by Anonymus last year, it also started negotiations with others. According to the recordings, they tried to sell the City Hall to Russian investors with the help of Zsolt Berki, left-wing businessman Gyula Gansperger and former Prime Minister Gordon Bajnai, but Italian business circles were also approached. Following the outbreak of the scandal, numerous reports were filed, and the police ordered an investigation on suspicion of influence peddling, embezzlement, fraud, abuse of office, bribery, and accepting bribes.
Source: Magyar Hírlap
Photo: Fidesz Facebook
