Election campaign reload – The investigations in the „Nokia box case” has been relaunched

In their submission full of formal errors Appellate Chief Prosecution Office in Szeged requested the initiation of the full reinvestigation of the story of Nokia-box at the regional court. If accepted this would be the third time that the case was put under investigation although the defendants have been acquitted by two times.

In case reinvestigation is approved by the Szeged Regional Court of Appeal in the proceedings beginning in September, it would be the third time that Fidesz would get the opportunity to influence the parliamentary elections with the same story. It should not be at the suprise of the ones following the case that along with the submission a prize from Péter Polt has also been accepted by the Prosecutor of Szeged competent in the case.

In September Tünde Handó, at long last, might be home and dry with one of her first decisons made right after she took office in January, 2012. The „Hagyó-case” did land in Szeged as it had been planned by Handó from the very beginning. Despite the decision made by the Constitutional Courd and their clear opposition, in the proceedings started the second time the only destination of the case could be Szeged. Perhaps, at the attempt to understand the ’why’ it could be useful to know that Attila Harangozó – the only candidate for the position of President of Szeged Regional Court of Appeal and then appointed by Handó – at a press conference referred to the President of OBH as his employer and he described the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg as gentlamen’s club. After all, it should not be at our suprise that Péter Polt’s prosecutors in Szeged are eager to carry out their duties accordingly. And what are these duties exactly?

Former Synergon-executive rescued from the Hagyó-case has become the CEO of the MVMI Information Technologies Service Centre Ltd.

Although it is not reflected in the registry of companies, on their official webpage Márk Lazarovits is indicated as the CEO of the MVMI Information Technologies Service Centre Ltd. Lazarovits ran the Synergon Information Technology Plc. between 2007 and 2011. According to the prosecution’s narrative – which they failed to prove – Lazarovits had been supposed to hide the 15 million HUF in the Nokia-box meant to Hagyó.  

The prosecution’s narrative and the indictment were based on the testimony given by Zsolt Balogh, third defendant. However the testimony was withdrawn by Balogh, meaning that the case was dropped for the CEO of Synergon. It is important to note that for some reason the prosecution did not carry out any investigation into Lazarovits’s case and did not questioned him at all in the two and a half years passed between Balogh’s giving testimony incriminating Lazarovits and its being withdrawn.

The Magical Nokia-box - part 23.

What are the expected consequences of the court decision?

I connection with the court decision considered to be “too lenient” the Fidesz wanted to call the judicature to account, however the high ranking representatives of the judicial power – involving Tünde Handó – have protested against it. The events took a dramatic turn when more judges making statements anonymously admitted that no independent judiciary exists in Hungary and the judges are exposed to the influence of their superiors. Definitely, this explains a lot in connection with the highly questionable decisions made in the BKV-case in the investigatory phase.

How did the MSZP turning their back on Hagyó react to the court decision?

After the court acquitted Hagyó of the most serious charges, the MSZP took the former socialist Deputy Lord Mayor under their protection. Better late than never, right? Well, since the story broke this was the first time that the socialist stood by their ex co-member having been dragged through the mire. Gergely Bárándy, the socialist vice-President of the legislative board stated that the charges were unfounded, they were lies. There was no Nokia-box, there was no corruption and there were no bribes. He also mentioned it more times that the Fidesz tries to increase their support by initiating show trials and unfortunately, they can always find people at the Prosecutor’s Office who are happily willing to provide assistance to the Fidesz with its methods associated with the “darkest dictatorships”. Gyurcsány referred to the Nokia-box as a smart marketing trick in an ATV program.

The Magical Nokia-box - part 22.

What decision was given at first instance?

After the prosecution admitted that they had committed mistakes and the charges related to the Nokia-box had been dropped, Hagyó was imposed two-year suspended sentence. However, he was not found guilty in connection with the Nokia-box and the metro line 4, furthermore the charge of being involved in criminal organization was also dropped. Since the ex Deputy Lord Mayor is still pleading his innocence the responsible defence lawyers have appealed the decision and the case goes to the court of second instance.

What were the antecedents of the decision?

The last witness was heard in September, 2015 in the BKV case. However, even after the case took more unexpected turns. In the last moment the prosecution amended the indictment again basically eliminating the count related to the Nokia-box.

The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg is like the gentlemen’s club.

The Hungarian judiciary is being criticised by both the right and the left-wing political parties for their decisions made in such cases as the red mud disaster case, the Hagyó-case and the Sukoró-case. The press conference held by Attila Harangozó, president of the Regional Court of Szeged, and his deputy, Attila Hámori aimed at reacting among others to the above mentioned.

Attila Harangozó began the discussion with pointing out that every organization has a structure and on top of the structure there is a leader appointed accordingly. The successful work of an organization requires the loyalty and professionalism of all the members. The court is a national organization – it has to work for the interest of the state and in harmony with it.

The Hagyó-case: according to the Prosecutor General it was not legally established to interrogate Demszky - atv.hu

It was not legally established to interrogate Gábor Demszky, former Lord Mayor, in relation to the so called BKV-lawsuit against Miklós Hagyó, former socialist Deputy Lord Mayor, and his co-defendants - said Imre Keresztes, the Chief Prosecutor of the High Prosecutor’s Office of Central Investigations at the press conference taking place on Monday.

The journalists present pointed out that it is a case in which the authorities investigated the responsibility of the Deputy Lord Mayor and Demszky’s former inferiors and the abuses taking place in a company of the capital. 

The Fidesz is excited, the party is attacking the judges - hvg.hu

It got a rise out of the Fidesz that there is no culprit in the red mud disaster and only suspended sentence was passed on Miklós Hagyó. According to the Fidesz the judicial independence is nothing more than liberalism.

Szilárd Németh, Fidesz-related member of the parliament announced that the party initiates discussion in the legal committee of the Parliament on the jurisdiction in relation to the decisions made by the responsible court in the Hagyó-case and in the case of the red mud disaster.