The Óbuda municipal corruption scandal is starting to turn into a mafia-like crime of corruption. The mayor of Gyurcsány will be arrested on Friday.
Mayor László Kiss was suspected on Wednesday of the crime of accepting an official bribe committed in a criminal conspiracy and as a business, as well as committing other crimes by abusing his privileged official position by a senior official, on Wednesday. They also initiated the arrest of the district leader together with two other new suspects.
The number of suspects in the corruption scandal has already increased to 16. It cannot be ruled out that there will be more suspects.
The suspicions are completely absurd, said László Kiss, the mayor of Óbuda-Békásmegyer who was taken into custody yesterday, whose words were interpreted by his defense attorney, Péter Zamecsnik. According to the lawyer, there are no special reasons for the client's arrest, so there is no need to worry about him escaping, hiding, destroying evidence, or repeating the crime, since the corruption case itself is already two years old, and László Kiss has known about it for that long.
Question, what specific evidence do the investigating prosecutors have? During the questioning of the suspect, no evidence was presented to the DK mayor. According to his defense attorney, he himself can receive the testimonies so far electronically today.
In any case, the Central Investigative General Prosecutor's Office proposed the arrest of László Kiss. It is known that the justification may have given special emphasis to the possibility of influencing the criminal proceedings, influencing witnesses and other suspects.
The mayor will be taken to the competent investigative judge at 9 a.m. on Friday, where it will be determined whether the judge will order the arrest.
Kiss will be taken to a detention hearing along with two other new suspects taken into custody on Wednesday.
According to practice, in corruption cases committed in a criminal organization, the suspects whose arrest is proposed by the prosecutor's office are usually arrested. It is also a practical experience that in these serious cases, the arrest motions are usually supported by evidence of the appropriate weight by the investigating authority.
Based on this, László Kiss is also expected to be arrested. Which is valid for 30 days the first time, but can be extended for two years afterwards. However, only for two years, as the Criminal Procedure Act states that if a suspect is named, the investigation can last a maximum of 2 years.
According to KNYF's announcement this morning, there are already 16 suspects in the Óbuda corruption case. It was only 10 in June.
On Wednesday, the Central Investigative General Prosecutor's Office interrogated five more people as suspects in its ongoing investigation into corruption crimes, three of whom are in custody.
Yesterday, the investigating general prosecutor's office carried out coordinated procedural actions in the case, within the framework of which, in many locations - including Budapest Capital III. In the building of Kerület Óbuda-Békásmegyer Self-Government, as well as at several local government companies - he conducted research and seizure. The General Prosecutor's Office questioned five people as suspects.
Among the suspects questioned yesterday is Dr. László Kiss III. a district mayor, a municipal manager, and a former employee of the mayor's office, who are currently in custody and the prosecution is proposing to order their arrest.
According to the well-founded suspicion communicated to the mayor, Dr. After his election as mayor in October 2019, László Kiss agreed with an acquaintance that the companies in his interests regularly receive orders from the municipality, for which he and other official and unofficial persons working at the municipality must be reimbursed money.
In order to conceal the origin and purpose of the bribe money, the municipality concluded fictitious, overpriced contracts with several economic companies established for this purpose. in reality, the service and product procurement written in the fake business contracts were not performed by the contracting companies, but by other economic companies for an amount lower than the price agreed in the contract. in some cases, the undertaken work was carried out by employees of the municipality.
The chief prosecutor's office suspects the mayor of the crime of accepting an official bribe committed in a criminal conspiracy and as a business, as well as committing other crimes by abusing his privileged official position by a person in a senior position.
The other two new suspects in the case are a III. a representative of the district municipality, as well as the managing director of one of the relevant economic companies.
The court extended the arrest of the deputy mayor, who was previously interrogated as a suspect in the criminal proceedings, until October 20, 2024, at the request of the prosecution.
Cover photo: László Kiss
Source: Wikipedia
