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.

Here is the list: policemen, prosecutors and judges proving their loyalty to Orban earn millions

A couple of days ago it was revealed that Zsolt Nagy, ex-investigator responsible for the Hagyó-case, earns a million per month at the BKV. However, he is not the only one who has been assigned a position of a competitive salary in return for their services and loyalty. Although, since then it has become obvious that - putting it slightly - they committed a bunch of “professional mistakes”.

The prosecution has failed to prove the charges against Hagyó and his co-defendants. Before the court the defendants and the witnesses talked about their earlier statements as given under coercion. Zsolt Balogh withdrew his story about the Nokia-boxes two and a half year ago. What is more, in March 2015 he publicly apologised to the ones who he had incriminated with his false statements. Finally, the prosecution also admitted that his story about the corrupt money cannot be proved with evidence. This, however, has not meant a hindrance to reward all the policemen, lawyers, prosecutors and judges acting according to the political interest.

The ex-investigator having been responsible for the Hagyó-case currently earns a million forints a month at the BKV.

A new name can be put on the list of the winners of the BKV-case: it has turned out that the then investigator responsible for the Hagyó-case earns millions as the deputy project director of the DBR Projekt Metró Board.

It has been reported several times that policemen, lawyers, prosecutors and judges acting according to the political interest have been all rewarded for their readiness – despite the fact that it was proved in many of the cases that they had made “professional mistakes”.

The Magical Nokia-box - part 14

Why was the BKV lawsuit reassigned – twice – to Kecskemét?

The new Fundamental Law of Hungary granted Tünde Handó, president of the National Office for the Judiciary, the right to (re)assign the BKV-case to the Court of Kecskemét famous for giving unreasonably severe court decisions. According to the plans the judgement would be passed in the peak period of the campaign, 2014. The plan itself failed, however the BKV-case resulted in a “legal horror story”. Although the Constitutional Court stated that the reassignment of the case violated the law, the courts involved began passing the BKV-case to each other until it finally got back to Kecskemét again.

Was the possibility of the reassignment of lawsuits involved in the law because of the BKV-case?

Possibly, it was. The investigations in the BKV-case were already ongoing, when in 2011 the pro-government two-thirds of the parliament defined the term “case with high priority” in the Criminal Procedure Code. The related legislation made it possible that cases with high priority be assigned to a court by the responsible Prosecutor’s Office or referring to workload the president of the court could drop these cases. Since the Constitutional Court prevented that the Fidesz related Péter Polt, Chief Prosecutor, could assign the case to a court, another solution was produced.

The Magical Nokia-box - part 7

Did the BRFK proceed correctly in the BKV case?

During the trial of the BKV case the accused claimed one by one that their testimonies  - incriminating both themselves and the other accused, primarily Hagyó – were given under coercion. Some of the accused called the procedure a show-trial, others simply described the incident as a political showdown.

Does it mean that before the court the accused and the witnesses gave different testimonies from the ones they had given to the investigators?

Yes, it does. What is more, the testimonies heard at the trial in Kecskemét are in a sharp conflict with the ones given in the investigation period. The vast majority of the main defendants and witnesses unsaid their testimonies given in the investigation period and they gave a new testimony before the court. The testimonies incriminating others were stated to have been given as a result of police threat, in exchange for their release, under humiliating circumstances, furthermore they had been given under direction and coercion.

Gábor Tóth - Who managed the BKV investigation

Gábor Tóth

Who managed the BKV investigation

Gábor Tóth was born in Kalocsa, October 28, 1966. He graduated in Bólyai János Military Technical College then he completed the criminal academic expertise in the Police Officer College and ELTE Faculty of law. He started his career as a military prosecutor investigator in 1988; he served in five different districts in Budapest as a detective, deputy chief of investigation division, deputy chief of criminal division and as the chief of the police station between 1990 and 2003. He had been working as the criminal deputy chief of the Chief of Metropolitan Police of Budapest between 2003 and 2007. (The Metro Police Chief couple are expecting a baby – Vevet, 02.02.2008)