to Hírclikk , the news portal of the MSZP . In the video conversation, he spectacularly tried to divert, to talk side-by-side, and to excuse himself, he uttered obvious untruths.
Here are the claims and rebuttals:
Karácsony's 1st statement: "In the last four years, not a single error has been found in how we manage public money. [...] And that we don't steal the money, but use it, no one questioned it."
The reality: the previous mayor István Tarlós handed over the keys to the city and the coffers with more than 200 billion extra when he left following the results of the 2019 municipal elections. Compared to that, Gergely Karácsony's popular program started a few months later, at the beginning of 2020, according to which "Budapest is poor" and on the verge of bankruptcy.
Deputy Mayor Ambrus Kiss has already envisioned bankruptcy for this year. In the meantime, three or four dozen consultants help Karácsony's work for millions in salaries, and some of the public procurements also end up with the friends. (For example, in the case of tests and protective equipment purchased during Covid.)
Karácsony's 2nd statement: "We try to do more and more with less and less money."
The reality: The capital's revenues and expenses change from year to year, new items may appear, others may not. At the same time, business tax revenue is always reported. The tax brought Budapest HUF 164 billion in 2019, but this year it is expected to exceed HUF 271 billion. It is more than a hundred billion plus.
Karácsony's statement 3: "It's as if I want to sell the City Hall, which we are currently renovating for billions, so obviously the whole thing is a big scam. […] None of this is true. It took a year for this to be revealed, and these cases were clarified."
The reality: At that time, Karácsony referred to the case known as Városháza-gate. But his words don't match at all. While the Karácsonys vehemently denied that they wanted to sell the building complex, audio recordings were made public in which Balázs Barts, the head of the capital's asset management company, discussed the sale of the City Hall with investors. These negotiations took place, which Karácsony did not deny, and Barts was even disciplined for it. The latter decision is particularly cynical, since in a hierarchical system such as the one in which the Budapest municipality operates, it is unthinkable for a registrar to discuss such a far-reaching issue without approval from the highest level, and moreover, presenting prepared plans for the capital.
It is also not true that these matters have been clarified. The investigation is ongoing, we currently know of three suspects, the names of two of whom are known to the public. Zsolt Berki and his brother József Berki are suspected of influence peddling by the National Investigation Agency. By the way, József Berki worked alongside the late MSZP minister Péter Kiss at the same time when the secretary of the head of the ministry was headed by the current deputy mayor Ambrus Kiss.
Karácsony's 4th claim: "The documents available to the OTP refute the report they made."
The reality: Karácsony spoke here about the case of the 99 Movement, founded to finance his prime ministerial campaign. The party partner of the mayor, Gábor Perjés, paid more than half a billion forints into the movement's account in 19 installments between 2021 and autumn 2022, mostly in euros and British pounds. About the amount, the Karácsonys claimed: the lavish money was collected from small amounts of so-called micro-donations, namely in small chests. However, the OTP filed a complaint in the case due to the use of a false private document, because according to the financial institution, the handed over bank notes could not have been placed in the donation collection boxes as stated in the minutes. The chests supposedly contained 2-3 thousand banknotes each.
However, according to the complaint, bundles of banknotes cannot be placed through the gap in the top of the approximately 30x30x30 centimeter donation collection box, but at the same time, it was established that the majority of the banknotes brought in - primarily euro banknotes - were new, wrinkle-free, in many cases consecutively numbered and stuck together (as if they had not been used after coming off the printing press).
The OTP had half a billion reasons to denounce the Karácsony movement
According to the bank's point of view, the package-type placement physically precludes the placement of money in the boxes in question. It can only be mentioned as a side note that the dubious financing could also have helped Péter Márki-Zay.
Clause 5 of Karácsony: "The problem is that the mayor, who will soon have knee surgery, drives between different parts of the city."
Reality: Karácsony's ironic comment also needs an explanation. The problem is that Karácsony happened to be using a car on car-free day. Another problem is that Karácsony's official car was caught for numerous violations of the rules when they tried to avoid traffic jams and restrictions. On top of everything, the mayor and his political allies obstruct car traffic in a variety of ways, by taking lanes, temporarily closing quays, closing bridges, and eliminating parking spaces.
Karácsony's 6th statement: The mayor's words revealed that he believes that the renovation of the 3rd subway is partly his merit, and the whole of Lánchídé is his merit.
The reality: The renovation of metro line 3 started in 2017, during the mayorship of István Tarlós, and was finally completed in the spring of 2023.
In addition to EU funds, the investment started with state funds, the capital contributed three percent of the initial cost to the construction. The delivery of the subway was postponed several times, and the project was finally completed at the end of May 2023.
Karácsony refers to the renovation of the Chain Bridge as a success story. All this in such a way that the mayor first scrapped the public procurement of the previous city administration for the renovation of the bridge, and then accepted a more expensive offer with less technical content. The bridge was originally supposed to be renovated for 21.8 billion, and Karácsony managed to get the work done for 26.7 billion.
Karácsony's 7th statement: "I am not building a power base for the opposition camp."
The reality: City Hall currently pays four deputy mayors and dozens of advisers, the wages of the latter costing HUF 406 million this year alone. One of the advisers was Dávid Korányi, who helped Karácsony's work as a city diplomatic adviser.
Korányi had to leave the Budapest municipality after it was revealed that Action for Democracy, which he founded, had transferred HUF 3.176 billion from overseas to organizations associated with the left. The source of the money is unknown, but at the same time Hungary's sovereignty may have been damaged due to the American influence attempt.
Clause 8 of Karácsony: "The citizens of this city entrusted me with the task of carrying out the program that I put on the table."
The reality: not much of Karácsony's program was realized, in the fall of 2022, 30 of Karácsony's 156 election promises were fulfilled, and 126 were not . Since then, unfortunately, the promise monitoring site operated by opposition activists has become unavailable, probably they also felt that the situation was embarrassing. Some of the unfulfilled promises, without claiming to be complete:
• two thousand new surveillance cameras in three years;
• eliminate the housing crisis by increasing the non-profit housing sector;
• restart the panel program;
• break down sublet prices;
• insulation, replacement of doors and windows and modernization of heating for families;
• support families with utility bill and rent arrears;
• Buda trolleybus;
• Budapest Academy of Sciences.
Featured image: MTI/Péter Lakatos
