The case of metro line 4 is the biggest corruption scandal of the past 27 years which is clearly associated with the former governmental and metropolitan leaders of MSZP and SZDSZ, Nándor Csepreghy, Minister of State at the Prime Minister’s Office said in Parliament.

The Minister of State stressed that there is only a single OLAF report in the hands of the Government in connection with the metro project which actually identified the political organisations in association with which individuals embezzled HUF 166 billion in Hungary.

He also said that the Hungarian and EU authorities cooperated in the case. He further pointed out that when taxpayers repay money to the EU, the case is not yet closed. The money must be demanded back from those who committed the crimes in question.

János Fónagy, Minister of State at the Ministry for National Development reiterated that the contract of the metro project was signed on the last day of the Horn Government in such a way that there was no funding in the 1998 budget to cover the costs of the project, and at the same time, all other relevant project preparations were also lacking.

The task in hand now is, he said, to minimise the bill that Hungarian taxpayers will have to foot.

(MTI/kormany.hu)