The public will be informed of which state background institutions had financial links with brokerage firms, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said during a questions and answers session in Parliament on Monday.
Socialist MP Bertalan Tóth asked the Prime Minister if he had received any concrete information on whether ministries had been keeping public money at brokerage firms, or if “he had only relied on his intuitions.”
In his answer, the Prime Minister confirmed that he deems it necessary to have a modern treasury system which can provide an adequate background for organisations dealing with public money, so that it is not necessary to “park” it at banks or brokerage firms.
In declaring his intended aim, he said that “It should be clear once and for all: money from the central budget must not be parked at banks or investment houses, but managed through a supervised channel in a transparent manner.”
Referring to those local councils affected by the Buda-Cash scandal, he added that, after it emerged that a number of municipalities were indeed keeping their funds at investment houses, “the question of the safekeeping of central government funds immediately arose.” It was then that he ordered the ministries to check whether they had “parked” public funds at brokerage firms, and if so, to withdraw them immediately.
It is expected that the ministries will finish this process by Wednesday evening or Thursday morning, thus the public can be informed of which background institutions are affected and to what extent, and whether their money is safe, the Prime Minister explained.
Jobbik MP Lorántné Hegedűs also inquired about the compensation of those affected by the brokerage scandals. In one of her points she complained about the lack of compensation and information provided to municipalities.
The Prime Minister replied that the Government had taken action in time and had sought to keep public money safe; this was the right thing to do, he said, as this is the money of the people.
He explained that in the Buda-Cash case, 96.5% of depositors had been given compensation worth up to HUF 30 million. In the Quaestor case, he also urged the Investor Protection Fund to compensate clients by providing them with up to HUF 6 million, which would mean full compensation for 22,000 small investors. The remaining 9,500 people would receive compensation from the fund proposed by Fidesz, he noted. He added that municipalities would also be given support.
In addition, Jobbik again inquired about the allegation of communist-era collaboration: Ádám Mirkóczi asked the Prime Minister whether during his military service he had cooperated to any degree with the III/IV secret service department.
The Prime Minister said that the reason he rejects the question is that he finds it absurd, ridiculous and false. “I have never cooperated with anyone to the detriment of any Hungarian citizen, either as a young man or as prime minister,” he declared.
The Prime Minister also confirmed that the standpoint of Fidesz on communist-era agent lists and reports has not changed. “We believe in public access. The question is to whom we should give the right to make things public. We believe that every single person affected – who was under surveillance, and who was assigned a file on which every kind of data appeared – should be granted the full right […] to make the facts fully public, if they so decide,” the Prime Minister said.
(Prime Minister's Office/MTI)
