Karácsony's head hurts, the mayor's defense collapsed: Kehi's investigation proves that the contractor of the Lánchíd project transferred HUF 1.3 billion to Vig Mór's company after concluding the general contractor contract.
Despite the efforts of Gergely Karácsony and his circle to push the bridge money scandal away from him, the partial report of the Government Audit Office (Kehi) published on Friday pulled the lid off one of the biggest corruption scandals of the left. It should be remembered that in connection with the Chain Bridge renovation, Kehi launched an investigation in January of this year based on István Tényi's report. In response to the Hungarian Nation's question, it was announced at the time that the use of public funds, as well as the regularity, economy and efficiency of the management of national assets, were being investigated as part of the government audit.
Suspicious financial transactions
Well, it turned out that the report revealed suspicious financial transactions between A-Híd Zrt., which carried out the renovation of Lánchíd, and Vig Mór, the invoice manufacturer. The document presents the process precisely, step by step, and the dates fundamentally refute the defense of the mayor who fled the scandal.
The Karácsonys argued that there was no coincidence in time between the renovation and the suspicious money movements. Known: A-Híd Zrt. transferred nearly one and a half billion forints to Vig Mór's company called Sunstrike Hungary Kft. The references raised suspicion for two reasons. On the one hand, A-Híd completed the renovation of the bridge at an overall cost of five billion forints compared to the previous one, and on the other hand, no one has given any explanation for the transfer of one and a half billion forints to this day, the reason for this being business or otherwise is unknown.
The Kehi report thoroughly covered the issue of timeliness: it was recorded that the public procurement procedure for the renovation of the Lánchíd was announced on August 4, 2020. BKK Budapesti Közlekedesi Központ Zrt. signed a contract with A-Híd on February 2, 2021, the company announced the completion of the investment on May 15, 2023, and the technical handover was completed on July 13 last year.
The mayor's defense collapsed
Turning to the timing of the cash movements, Kehi recorded that A-Híd transferred a total of 1.54 billion in 39 installments to Vig Mór kft. The first reference was made at the beginning of November 2020, one week after the breakdown of the offers received during the public procurement procedure. This was followed by two more transactions on December 9, 2020 and January 19, 2021, before we reached the signing of the contract in early February 2021.
What is the point: the dates refute the defense of the Karácsonys, the whole of the one and a half billion forints was transferred during the public procurement procedure, and 1.3 billion forints - in 36 installments - after the construction contract was signed, from A-Híd to the ex-lawyer company of the invoice manufacturer.
The timing of the breakdown of the received offers is important during a public procurement procedure, because the contracting authority (in this case BKK Budapesti Közlekedesi Központ Zrt.) sees the received offers after the breakdown, and although the final result of the public procurement has not yet been announced, it can already be seen precisely, which company won the given public procurement procedure. According to Kehi, A-Híd Zrt. made the first transfer to Vig Mór's company, Sunstrike Hungary Kft., in the amount of HUF 71,648,320 one week after the breakdown of the offers received by BKK (October 28, 2020), i.e. one week after BKK already knew who had won the project for the renovation of the Chain Bridge, they had not yet formally announced the winner or signed a contract with him.
Cash from public funds
Kehi pointed out one more aspect. Namely, that 1.51 billion of the 1.54 billion forints received by Sunstrike were transferred to two lawyers. HUF 1.34 billion of the transferred sum was withdrawn in cash 39 times, typically on the day of the transfer or within a few days after, in a way that can be identified based on the date and amount of the transactions. A temporal relationship can be discovered between the sequence of transfers and cash withdrawals, as well as the payments received by the investor.
The identity of the two lawyers can be deduced from the criminal and other information so far. One of them is Mór Vig (who, by the way, is the brother of Amnesty leader Dávid Vig), the other is Dániel Hegedüs, who - as Kehi alluded to - had an office in the same building as Vig. The Government Audit Office also emphasized that, based on the findings of the report, suspicions of additional crimes may arise.
Christmas should give you a clear answer
Balázs Hidvéghi, the campaign manager of Fidesz-KDNP mayoral candidate Alexandra Szentkirályi, spoke in connection with the Kehi report. According to him, instead of the more favorable contract negotiated by the previous mayor, István Tarlós, the City Hall entered into an agreement with A-Híd Zrt. for the renovation of the Chain Bridge with reduced technical content, but HUF 5.5 billion more expensive.
In the new contract, for example, the advance payment that can be withdrawn has been increased fifty times compared to the previous agreement
he noted.
According to Balázs Hidvéghi, the question arises: why did an agreement with a reduced technical content cost more? According to him, the need for Mayor Gergely Karácsony to stand up and give clear answers to these questions is legitimate.
What did Transparency do?
The fact that Transparency International classified the scandalous Lánchíd renovation as legally transparent is also not a negligible circumstance. The Soros organization even reported on its website how successfully the public procurement procedure for the renovation of the Széchenyi Chain Bridge was concluded, and then announced that everything was done legally and fairly. Despite the fact that, according to the records of the Public Procurement Authority, the Hungarian organization of Transparency International (TI) did not have an accredited public procurement consultant when it examined the purity of the Chain Bridge renovation tender. The problem is that the company received a commission fee of HUF five million for this.
In this regard, it is worth recalling the statement of the President of the Public Procurement Authority. László Kovács Magyar Nemzet that it is quite simply impossible that TI would have the necessary, highly specialized public procurement or other expertise to be able to judge a procedure such as the one for the renovation of the Chain Bridge.
Featured image: Facebook/Gergely Kárácsony
