Seizure of assets worth billions, several suspects, key information obtained from abroad - these are all the official actions of the past months in the criminal case related to the Czech Catherines, which is taking place in the case of European Union grant funds obtained under confusing circumstances. The National Tax and Customs Administration has been investigating suspected budget fraud for two years, and not without results.

In a video uploaded to the Internet in the summer of 2021, a masked figure calling himself Anonymus claimed that he was going to bring down a politician playing a double game. Not long after, he named Katalin Cseh. The masked man also leaked information about one of Momentum's best-known politicians and MEPs, that certain members of the company network linked to his family were able to receive multibillion-dollar EU grant funds under suspicious circumstances.

The core of the company group is Mondat Kft., Holotech Hungary Kft. and Pannónia Nyomda Kft. The latter company was founded by the father of the current politician. Katalin Cseh was the managing director of the company between 2013 and 2018, precisely during the period when the EU application was also submitted. The scandal attracted the attention not only of the Hungarian press, but also of the authorities, so much so that the National Tax and Customs Administration (NAV) launched an investigation on suspicion of budget fraud shortly after the first information emerged.

From the published data, it was increasingly possible to conclude that the members of the company network coordinated their operations and applied for EU funds in a systematic manner and won a total of HUF 4.8 billion under suspicious circumstances.

According to the raised suspicion, the essence of the method was that they created branches with the same address in particularly disadvantaged micro-regions, in the counties of Pest and Nógrád, so that they were able to call in a significant amount of state aid in connection with EU projects.

The latter is confirmed by the fact that, according to press reports, NAV specialists reviewed the EU applications submitted in recent years by a network of roughly half a dozen companies.

The investigators established that the businesses could indeed apply for EU and domestic funds in a coordinated manner.

In several cases, the company's headquarters, branch office, and manager were the same, but more than once there was a match in the identity of the supplier and the location of the project implementation.

So-called holographic devices and technologies were included in the tenders. The latter element is important because the investigators of the tax authority make it likely that the members of the company network participated in ten tenders completely, or at least partially, with the same development.

This could mean that they could ask for money more than once for a machine or a technological solution. This assumption is supported by the fact that the tax authority believes that the same equipment was procured for two tenders, and that in the case of several tenders the same invoices were presented to prove the use of EU funds.

A good example of the above-mentioned possible abuse is what was previously revealed by Bennfentes.net, according to which Czech Katalins could apply with already existing technology. The portal examined the Swiss company that can be connected to the company group, HoloTech Switzerland AG, which is the Hungarian owner of Holotech Hungary Kft. It was revealed about the company: already in 2013, they developed a hologram technology, including a machine that creates holographic images. Three years later, during the management of Katalin Cseh, Pannónia Nyomda Kft. also submitted a tender for the development of a hologram technology and won HUF 68 million.

According to the summary of the application, the hologram is good because as a marketing tool it can have a huge impact on decision-makers: "we consider a real estate investor, an apartment buyer, a tenant of an area to be a decision-maker, but in our case a planned major investment (e.g. in the application material for the 2024 Hungarian Olympic Games, the locations color holographic display) and the decision-makers and participants of its implementation, which can be a decision at the level of the national economy." According to the company led by Katalin Cseh, their development, for which they requested financial support from the Union, could have been suitable for presenting the venues of the Hungarian Olympics. Of course, this ultimately did not materialize, as the party of Katalin of the Czech Republic, Momentum, failed the Olympics.

By the way, Pannónia Nyomda Kft. rented a site in Vácott at the time of submitting the application, exactly where Holotech Hungary Kft. is also registered. Another connection is that the managing director of Holotech Hungary Kft. and the president and CEO of HoloTech Switzerland AG are the same person, Viktor Lakatos, whose sphere of interest IPRESS Center Kft. bought Veszprémi Nyomda Kft. in 2012, where among the officials the father of the current politician and the name of Viktor Lakatos were also found. Returning to the Vác site, the NAV staff conducted a search on the site, where documents were seized.

During the investigation, the experts also found traces of circular billing.

It is worth recalling that certain members of the company network bought two devices suitable for operating hologram technology from a Czech company. However, the purchase price paid by the Hungarian buyer, totaling more than one billion forints, was fully returned to the buyer, Holotech Hungary Kft., a member of the company group. Because of the Czech connection, NAV initiated the prosecution to apply for legal aid to the Czech prosecutor's office. This is because bank data, tax returns and various contracts can help clarify the still unclear details of the case. This happened, and according to press information, the answers received confirmed the suspicion.

Looking at it from this point of view, it is no longer surprising that not long after, in the fall of 2022, NAV interrogated a person in the case who is suspected of tax fraud exceeding half a billion. According to press information, the person is an official of a company connected to the Czech family's company, whose interests were seized by the investigative authorities in excess of billions. A few weeks ago, the detectives "addressed" another suspect, the man who may have been an accomplice of the official who was suspected last year.

In the case of cross-border tax evasion, the Hungarian authorities have already issued several foreign legal aid requests. The countries contacted included Lithuania, Poland and the Czech Republic. Responses were received from all three countries, and as mentioned, the evaluation of the Czech legal aid has already taken place, while the Lithuanian and Polish responses are still being analyzed by the authority.

The former bodies were able to send a witness examination of a Lithuanian citizen, who at the time was entrusted with the assembly of machines sold to Holotech Hungary Kft., which belongs to the company network, and who can provide information regarding his assignment and the assembly of the machines. In the case of Poland, the Polish authorities were contacted because of documents, e-mails and accounting documents created in connection with Pannónia Nyomda Kft., which belongs to the Czech family, and a Polish company, read Magyar Nemzet .

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Cover image: Center for Fundamental Rights