Discounts given to members of the Democratic Coalition can be a crime, the constitutional lawyer of the Századvég Institute pointed out to Origo. Zoltán Lomnici Jr. added: this also shows that the politicians of the Democratic Coalition (DK) are not people of the people and do not work for the voters, but for themselves with the voters' money.

- In connection with this special, theatrical form of corruption, the question of political responsibility is clearly raised: a local government must manage responsibly, and here specifically, they want to use taxpayers' money to supplement the ticket price discount for DK party members - pointed out in an interview with Origo, jr . Constitutional lawyer Zoltán Lomnici regarding the huge scandal that erupted in the Katona József Theater.

As previously reported by civilek.info , an internal letter obtained by the paper revealed:

up to a third of the price of the performances is waived for DK members at the József Katona Theater, which is maintained by the capital and operates with public funds. 

A few years ago, Ferenc Gyurcsány's newsletter promoted the theater's anti-government demonstration, and the DK president personally stood up for the revival of director Gábor Máté.

According to the expert, there is a suspicion of dishonesty in the case.

The case is morally unacceptable, and it is shameless of left-wing politicians, who are much wealthier than the average person, to expect them to be able to watch theater performances using discounted tickets

- the constitutional lawyer told the news portal. Zoltán Lomnici Jr. added: this also shows that they are not people of the people, and they are not working for the voters, but for themselves with the voters' money. If people's situation is really as bad as they make it out to be, then it is even more unacceptable that left-wing politicians living off taxpayers' money, who could pay the full price of the ticket, go to the theater with individual discounts.

This is an unbalanced competitive situation: the theater sets a much lower ticket price for members of a political party than for others, even if the net cost of the theater is higher anyway, and non-DK taxpayers are also forced to make up for the loss in ticket prices.

the expert pointed out.

It is a political case that can even serve as a precedent for abusive institutional behavior, meaning that other theaters can follow this bad example.

As for possible legal liability issues, there is a suspicion of misappropriation.

According to § 376, paragraph (1) of Act C of 2012 on the Criminal Code (Btk.), a person entrusted with the management of another's property, and by breaching his duty resulting from this, causes a financial disadvantage, commits mismanagement, explained the expert, and then pointed out :

The fact that the management of the theater distributes discounted tickets on the basis of party politics means harming the institute, i.e. causing a financial disadvantage.

The Századvég researcher explained: if the crime was committed by causing a minor financial disadvantage (HUF 50,000-500,000), the penalty for a misdemeanor is up to two years' imprisonment, if the crime was committed by causing a larger financial disadvantage (HUF 500,000-5,000,000) crime, so the penalty for a crime is imprisonment for up to three years.

Reviewed by: Hungarian Nation

Cover photo: Gábor Máté (Photo: MTI / Szilárd Koszticsák)