Based on a proposal by Fidesz, assets of companies involved in the brokerage scandal would be collected within a damages fund; such assets would include personal assets of brokers, members of supervisory boards, auditors and others who have “abused their powers”. Victims of the scandal would then be reimbursed from this fund, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán told national television channel M1 on Monday.

“Brokers have abused their financial power and the number of those who have suffered from this is quite high. We have no time to lose – we must take the steps necessary to ‘salvage’ assets, preventing wrongdoers from transferring abroad assets that could serve as a basis for reimbursement,” the Prime Minister and President of Fidesz said.

“What usually happens in these cases […] is that those who have cheated somehow get away with it. They can do so because the assets from which victims could be reimbursed have usually disappeared along the way: a lot of space opens up for legal manoeuvring, and by the time the Government or the supervisory bodies have a chance to act, it turns out that the assets are not even there anymore,” Mr. Orbán explained.

The proposal by Fidesz, which is also supported by the Government, aims at preventing this and at immediately appropriating the assets – including personal assets of brokers, members of supervisory boards, auditors and others who have “abused their powers”. Mr. Orbán said that the victims whose money has disappeared in the “decade-long corruption case” could be reimbursed from this fund.

If the opposition supports the proposal, Parliament could vote on the draft legislation as soon as next Tuesday, the implementing regulations could be issued within a day and the freezing of assets and appropriation of personal assets could commence immediately, the Prime Minister said.

As Mr. Orbán reiterated, it is of the utmost importance that those responsible for the scandal do not get away with it, and that this story does not end like almost all such cases of financial abuse have done over the last twenty years.

(Prime Minister's Office/MTI)