Abuses may also have occurred in the left-wing-led Kispest, even more so in the 2019 local government campaign - this conclusion can be drawn from the testimony of the mysterious whistleblower in the capital's corruption scandal. The shadow of corruption is not the first time that the district led by Péter Gajda has been cast, just think of the Lackner case.
Magyar Nemzet its series of articles on the capital's corruption scandal with a story about the Kispest municipality Remember, the whole case started when a mysterious informant appeared at the authorities, who gave an incriminating statement against himself and several later suspects, including Óbuda mayor László Kiss, back in December 2021. Among other things, the informant said that László Kiss was called "boss" by the actors in the case, who also added that the mayor "goes for money".
The first suspects in the case were arrested in March, including the important background figure of the left, P. Gábor, and his associates, D. Róbert, as well as F. László, László Kiss's confidant and his wife's former business partner. The latter two have already been released from custody after they reportedly started talking.
Among the recordings handed over to the authority, there are also references to abuse affecting several districts, for example, the corruption case in Zugló appears in the audio materials, but the XVIII. district, Pestszentlőrinc, there is also information that raises the responsibility of mayor Sándor Szaniszló.
In the testimony of the mysterious whistleblower, in addition to the above districts, he also mentioned the municipality of Kispest, led by Péter Gajda, which was previously involved in the Lackner case. It is known that in the fall of 2019, a recording was made public in which Csaba Lackner, a left-wing former municipal representative, talked about hundred million corruption in the company of a white powder called "cola" and alcohol. The police also initiated proceedings for economic crimes and drug-related cases, but so far neither Lackner nor any other official in a more serious position has been suspected.
Returning to the whistleblower, he told his interrogators the following about the district led by Péter Gajda:
"P. Towards the end of 2018, Gábor contacted me asking whether my company and I would be able to participate in tasks related to the 2019 local government election campaign with his help. This would have primarily meant advertising activities, I had never done such work before, and there was no person with such qualifications in my company, so neither the personal nor the material conditions were there for me to carry out such activities".
Later, the man continued by saying that P. reassured him that he would only have to sign a contract with Péter Gajda and the "unification" of the opposition coalition, but that he would have to outsource the work to a subcontractor. The witness claimed: he was told that his company did not have to perform any specific activities, but that the prices would be set in such a way that the company would have a profit of 10-15 percent.
"I practically signed the contracts in such a way that I did not discuss their terms with anyone in any way, I did not come into contact with the subcontractors and representatives of the parties, as well as the mayor. As far as I know, these negotiations were conducted by P. Gábor, my task consisted exclusively of signing the papers presented to me, and transferring the amounts to my company's account in the amount and under the conditions determined by P. Gábor," testified the whistleblower.
Cover photo: Gergely Karácsony and Péter Gajda / Facebook
