Today’s topic is a socialist corruption case that broke on October 4, almost simultaneously with the release of the video depicting the Fidesz mayor of Győr, Zsolt Borkai, in a sex act on a luxury yacht on the Adriatic. Since then, Borkai was forced to resign and his successor, Csaba András Dézsi, just won the by-election with an impressive majority. As far as Borkai is concerned, he is “happy to be alive,” as he said about his state of mind the other day.
The socialist corruption case, on the other hand, that Hír TV’s program “Informátor” first reported, is still unresolved, mainly because the socialist mayor and the opposition members of the city council in District XIX (Kispest) are doing their best to minimize the damage caused by Csaba Lackner, an MSZP member of the council. His long monologue about the ease with which a local politician can make 100 million forints a year on the side was secretly recorded. As he explained, the money is not stolen outright. Instead, a clever politician conducts business with those contractors who will be ready to pay graft for the privilege of business opportunities.
Journalists from 24.hu got in touch with Péter Gajda, the socialist mayor of the district, who strangely enough didn’t recognize the man with whom he has played football and gone skiing for years. He was sure that the video was a forgery. A few days later, however, Gajda said he recognized Lackner’s face but not his voice. Lackner himself first claimed that the video was a piece of trash made up of spliced-together clips, and thus it did not reflect his true intentions.
After Hír TV’s release of the tape, Magyar Nemzet moved into high gear and summarized the contents of Lackner’s monologue in a three-part article. On the video, one can hear the socialist politician talking about his fellow socialist council member, Krisztián Kránitz, who in the last five years was in charge of the assets of the district. It is a very powerful position and, if someone is corrupt, a very lucrative one. Kránitz, at least according to Lackner, was known as Mister 40%. Businessmen who had had a long association with Kránitz, whom his enemies called “Krinyó,” were distraught when MSZP didn’t include his name on the list of candidates. Apparently, one of his customers happened to be the husband of another council member, Mrs. László Somogyi. “Conflict of interest” seems to be an alien concept in Hungary, as was clear from the case of László Trócsányi, the former minister of justice, who hired lawyers working for the law firm bearing his name. Somogyi apparently was frantic about the departure of Kránitz, which would mean the loss of a large part of his business.
From left to right: Csaba Lackner, Krisztián Kránitz, and Péter Gajda / Source: Origo
MSZP acted quickly. By the end of October Lackner was expelled from the party, and the leadership called on him to resign his seat on the city council, which he refused to consider. Kránitz, although MSZP dropped him from its list and therefore as of October 13 he was no longer a member of the council, remained the managing director of the district’s Property Management and Technical Organization, the office that handles all the property transactions of the district. Moreover, once Gajda and the members of the city council learned that MSZP no longer stood behind Kránitz, they immediately doubled his salary “to bring it in line with the wages of other city employees.” As Lackner said on the tape, “MSZP politicians protect and help their friends.”
Meanwhile journalists discovered an interesting connection between the socialist District XIX and the Fidesz District VIII, Józsefváros, where András Pikó is now diligently looking into corruption cases during the old Máté Kocsis-Botond Sára era. Those businessmen who won tenders in District XIX lost almost all the tenders in District VIII and vice versa. Therefore, there is good reason to believe that there was a secret understanding between the two districts to coordinate the winners of their tenders. Unfortunately, the official who was in charge of tenders in District VIII resigned immediately after the elections, and therefore it is unlikely that he will be willing to provide further information on the subject.
It took a long time, but an investigative committee was eventually set up in District XIX to look into what Lackner had to say about the illicit business activities of the socialist leadership in Kispest. The idea of such a committee was proposed at the end of November by the only LMP member of the council, István Ferenczi. The majority of the council, which currently consists of 13 opposition and five Fidesz members, including the socialist Mayor Péter Gajda, were not keen on the idea. Yesterday at last, they announced that the committee will have three months to investigate. But according to its critics, including Csaba Lackner, it is a foregone conclusion that “no substantive answers will surface in response to substantive questions” as a result of the committee’s investigation. Ferenczi, who was a guest on ATV’s Egyenes Beszéd, said that he had suggested a six-month investigation, wanted to have the Fidesz deputy mayor be a member of the committee, and suggested having both open and closed meetings. None of his suggestions was accepted, and therefore he has grave doubts about the efficacy of the committee in its present form.
Rumors of “financial” cooperation between MSZP and Fidesz have been circulating for years, and in this case, it looks as if the socialist and Fidesz districts were in close contact in order to divide the “dough” between them. I tend to agree with Ferenczi, it is unlikely that this committee will find anything. MSZP, which quickly acted when it came to Csaba Lackner, a simple city council member, doesn’t seem to be that eager when it comes to the successful and popular mayor of Kispest.
With each revelation of corruption on the part of opposition politicians, it becomes increasingly difficult to make the rampant corruption of the Orbán government a differentiating rallying cry in national election campaigns. The jaded response is: “Everybody does it. That’s just life in Hungary.”
I’ve said it before:
That was the first thing I learned about Hungary when I came for a visit to my sister and her husband in 1996 – corruption everywhere!
He worked for one of the global companies and after his three year stint swore he’d never return to Hungary!
My sister visited us regularly but it took her husband 20 years to return for a visit to Budapest – last summer he accompanied her for a week when she wanted to see her dentist again …
The stories I heard from him – it started with a 50 $ note in your driver’s licence …
Of course there is corruption everywhere all over the world but it really seems everybody in Hungary like in any underdeveloped country tolerates it – or rather wants to be included in it …
Fun fact for today:
A few days ago the authorities took away a baby from a family which is part of a cult that does not acknowledge the authority of the Hungarian state (claiming among others that Hungary is a just “an Israeli company registered in New York”).
The interesting thing is that the main ideologist of the cult seems to be one Imre Posta who used to be the psychologist of the Republican Defense Regiment (Köztársasági Őrezred).
This force was a regiment within the police that was responsible for protecting the political VIP (something like the Secret Service in the US) and was merged into Készenléti Rendőrség which is special, militarized unit of the police force, members of which live at a separate police compound etc. and are used for breaking up demonstrations and carry out violent action which the normal police force doesn’t do.
Posta has ideas like the Parliament is a just a synagogue located in Judapest, Mossad agents completely infiltrated the Hungarian police, etc. etc.
So Posta used to evaluate the members of the Republican Regiment.
https://index.hu/belfold/2020/01/29/dusnok_gyamhivatal_rendor_anyakonyv_szulo_elrabol_kiemel/
They could move to Cleveland or Chicago, and feel perfectly accepted!
“it becomes increasingly difficult to make the rampant corruption of the Orbán government a differentiating rallying cry in national election campaigns. ”
People were well aware in 2018 of Fidesz corruption and cronyism. Fidesz supporter or not, I haven’t known a single Hungarian not aware or denying this fact, and also not critical of the fact. It did not prevent Fidesz winning the elections. Those who support Fidesz simply don’t consider the opposition much better anyway in this regard (the memories of the pre-Orban era are still vivid) and they consider the opposition as an worse option for governing the country in general.
The opposition will have to find ways to reinvent itself, to come with new ideas and packages, to address real concerns and to offer a credible new path for them, or just wait and hope that people will get tired of seeing Orban’s face everyday in the media and thus vote to simply see new faces on TV.
Relying on the “anti-corruption” as the electoral slogan won’t do it.
VALÓPOLITIKA ??? ··· Wearing his ‘reasonable racist’ hat this day, SHEEPMAN makes a valid point about the viability of oppositionists. The Csepel club where I pump iron is where I often intersect with Magyars on a serious basis. Years back, I asked one why he supported Fidesz. His reply: “Who else.” Relatedly, I got into a discussion with another, who replied that it was “not proven” that Fidesz is/was corrupt, which means either that he is covering up for ORBÁN & CO. or that he has not yet gotten the memo.
MAGYARKOZÓ
Óvoda, try it with facts once! Hungary is no democracy with rule of law and free media. Orbán allows once in a time the face of an opposition politician on tv. But only to tell some lies about him. Think about the parking scandal caused by FIDESZ, when Karácsony was district mayor and ran for lord mayor the FIDESZ scandal was linked to Karácsony by the corrupt tv. And may I introduce you to the FIDESZ believer that wanted to call Orbán (the innocent god of Hungary) to inform him, that there are a lot of corrupt politicians in his government? Typical FIDESZ voters don’t believe in FIDESZ corruption, just stories. Nobody was ever convicted, because the prosecutors mustn’t investigate….
Hope for a non-corrupt government does exist in Hungary, and on this blog too. But Eva’s comment about the difficulty for an opposition to run on an anti corruption platform when corruption is rampant is well taken. As we all know cynicism abounds in Hungary and Central Europe, it’s actually part of the culture. I would say the same attitude prevails in Chicago about corrupt politics that have existed here since well before the Civil War. Chicago elected a very small in physical stature Black lesbian woman lawyer as Mayor, essentially because she appeared disconnected from kick backs and patronage hiring. However, she was elected with under 35% of the voters even bothering to vote in her election. She has since her election acted generally appropriately on many issues, but she is powerless. We are a city drained financially and local taxes can’t be raised much more. So we are reduced to schemes like new city based casinos which are heavily taxed, taxation on legalized marijuana sales, increased taxes on ride share providers like Uber, and endless schemes for environmentally friendly taxes like forcing shoppers to pay for bags with a 7 cent additional tax on each one or buying… Read more »
“I would say the same attitude prevails in Chicago about corrupt politics that have existed here since well before the Civil War…We are a city drained financially and local taxes can’t be raised much more.”
China is very corrupt at all levels but it has developed tremendously and the standard of living has increased manifold. Chicago was always very corrupt, that’s true, but it was back then also a mostly White city (92% -1940, 66%- 1970) and, before globalization and the outsourcing of jobs to China, an industrial powerhouse. Hence the taxation basis was sound. Not so anymore, the Whites in Chicago are now under 40 %, while the Blacks and the Hispanics over 60%.
According to the data of the 2014 federal budget, the average annual net tax/benefit in US broke down as follows:
White: -$2,795, Black: +$10,016, Hispanic: +7,298
Over the course of an average 79-year lifespan, a White individual contributes a net $220,805 to the system, whereas over the course of an average 75-year lifespan, a Black individual receives a net $751,200.
Not surprising then that it goes bankrupt, corruption or not. Diversity is an expensive hobby.
The minority population of Chicago is declining as is the overall population, see for example https://www.citylab.com/equity/2018/05/what-will-it-take-to-de-segregate-chicago/560390/ . Even when Chicago was far more white than today it was deeply corrupt, including members of the Central European political class like my grandfather and great uncle who became union leaders here under the patronage of Mayor Cermack. Once Cermack was shot and killed the Irish took power and my grandfather and his brother retreated to suburban towns to continue their nefarious work. Both my father and I reaped the material benefits of numerous deals made by these two brothers and I hold title to this day to some property they accumulated.
I suspect the Fidesz political class will hold on to wealth for over a hundred years, like my own family in Chicago has if they are prudent. It allowed me to be a part time Army Officer for years without fear for income and to create a strategy for retirement including contracting. To say it’s not fair is an understatement, to say it’s American is also not an understatement.
Very interesting
BULLSHEEP !!!
MAGYARKOZÓ
“Even when Chicago was far more white than today it was deeply corrupt..”
I agreed on that, it is well documented. My point was solvency and how that changed (Whites were 92% in 1940). As it changed percentwise racially and also economically (globalization).
Detroit would be an even more striking example. It went from 90% White in 1940 to about 10% in 2010. Large parts of it look today as places in Africa, people among the ruins of what was once build by the Europeans during the colonial era.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2211498/Detroits-amazing-transformation-captured-camera-loses-ONE-MILLION-residents-60-years.html
“I suspect the Fidesz political class will hold on to wealth for over a hundred years”
Sure but it doesn’t mean that they will keep voting Fidesz for 100 years. They will become supporters of any new regime. You could do a lot of “good business” with the Socialists/Left as well, as the pre-Orban era showed copiously.
Wow, Blacks ruined Detroit, because Blacks destroyed American car industry, where Blacks built cars that were so bad that nobody wanted to buy them any more. Do you have to tell anything else but pure racism?
“Diversity is an expensive hobby.”
What does the bigot suggest be done with those non-whites to make things less expensive? What an ass-hat.
It’s not blacks that are the issue, but how bigotry has created economic disparities that are systemic and difficult to undo. But things are getting better despite the mindset of people like the troll above.
https://www.brookings.edu/blog/the-avenue/2017/11/15/black-incomes-outpace-the-national-average-in-124-majority-black-cities-so-wheres-the-investment/
In total our tax revenues in Chicago have increased but insufficiently to our obligations such as bond debt, and pension debt. Minorities paid their taxes and Black and Hispanic politicians also stole money whenever they could through hiring unnecessary staff, kick backs and like Fidesz overcharging for contracting from their friends. They learned how to do this by watching people like my grandfather and great uncle. They just want their cut too, except for several generations of nefarious stealing which made their additional patronage corruption difficult to finance. The City of Chicago is unlike Detroit in many ways, one is property values in parts of the city continue to increase, but not on commercial property, because retail is collapsing and Chicago itself has no real industry anymore most moved outside the city proper. Minority residential property values have stagnated, but not collappased. Areas of the city that were most ghettoized are now ghost towns with empty lots abounding. Detroit had a more generalized collapse. There are now some investors buying up property in Detroit because most of the poor have been removed and vast areas have been leveled and fenced off. It will take years for it to become again… Read more »
RACIST PIECE-OF-SHIT SHEEPMAN
https://hungarianspectrum.org/2020/01/28/a-recent-socialist-corruption-case-in-kispest/#comment-182884
SHEEPMAN [OVIDIU] CRAP #1
https://hungarianspectrum.org/2020/01/28/a-recent-socialist-corruption-case-in-kispest/#comment-182892
SHEEPMAN [OVIDIU] CRAP #2
HATERS = LOOZERS ··· The sooner that you’re off this planet, the better. I cant say it any better than that, CRAPMAN. You will be a deathbed loozer.
MAGYARKOZÓ
– The sooner that you’re off this planet, the better… You will be a deathbed loozer.
My last thoughts will include you and your kind, so as to be sure I have no regrets.
BRAINTARDS & REPTARDS ··· There are RETARD types who often intersect here politically. (Lest anyone be inclined to pull a freakout over my use of ‘retard’, know that I am NOT reffing the ‘intellectually challenged’. The suffix ‘tard’, from the Latin ‘tardus’ [SLOW], is now part of the neovocab.)
THE TARDED ··· By my neologo ‘reptards’, I am referring to rightwingers who support the Republican party in the US and/or Fidesz in Hungary. The letters of the prefix for the term ‘reptard’ are shared by the initial-three letters of ‘repulsive’, ‘repugnant’, ‘Republican’, not to mention ‘replicant’. I cant claim to have invented ‘braintard’, which is such a nice word to characterize those lacking a full allotment upstairs, which includes beefies who supported Jobbik back when it was to the right of Fidesz. Also included are most (if not all) proFidesz trolls infecting the HS website.
DEMENTED ··· Dementia [eg: Alzheimer’s] affects many seniors. If SHEEPMAN lives to 85, he has a better-than-50% chance of snagging the Big A. My suggestion is that he off himslf before he gets there, but If he forgets to do so, then at least he wont remember what a loozer he was.
MAGYARKOZÓ
If you take a closer look at the socio-economic and political makeup of those European countries (and third-world countries, as well) that are consistently at the top of the statistics regarding economy, transparency, less corruption, gender equality, national health and welfare, education, less crime – what is THE single most common factor across that spectrum? – That’ right: The proportionate representation and inclusion of women’s organisations, at all levels of public society. In short: The less girls and women focus on the old-worldly “Kinder-Kirche-Küche”, the more integral and dynamic and economically secure the society is, as a whole. A successful and growing progressive opposition will need to secure a grounded, lasting development, away from the traditional Hungarian self-image. An image dominated by dramatic and pathetic, national-romanticist visions and rhetorical undercurrents of a bygone past (and a distinctly victimized/vindictive mood). To achieve that, women have to be broadly organised, on their own terms and as an equally represented part of the front and foundation of that new popular progressive movement. If not for anything else, then at least because the women are the most influential role models for their daughters, and their sons’ first teachers. What they say and how they… Read more »
Having a look at the Fidesz members of parliament, around 90% of whom
men I don’t see a great chance for this to change soon.
In countries like Germany or the Nordic you often have a rule that every second position has to go to a woman – but Hungary?
It’ll take a long, long time to change …
PS:
That’s similar to the US republicans most of whose representatives are also obese ugly old white men …
I sometimes wonder what would happen if Hungary had someone like AOC (Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez) in parliament – how would those men react? 🙂 🙂
Wolfi, there are jobs where Hungarian women are very well represented: Cooking, washing, cleaning and raising children…. Exactly according the wishes of Orbán and the other FIDESZ men.
What’s wrong with them ? Especially with being a mother and rising children ? Are you a loony “feminist” perhaps?
People who have never had children are more likely to die prematurely and develop mental problems than those who have had children, researchers from Aarhus University, Denmark, reported in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.
The authors added that the link between shorter lifespans, mental health and childlessness is particularly noticeable among women.
The belief that having children may shorten our lives is a myth, the researchers explained, as the reverse seems to be the case.
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/253714.php#1
Idiot!
The point is that men should help their partners in everything, especially raising children.
We are past that age but we still do household work together.
OT but funny:
When my Hungarian girlfriend (now my wife) spent the first night at my house I took the dog out after breakfast and when I came back she had just started doing the dishes. i called out: No, No! She looked at me, what, why shouldn’t I do this? So I just opened the dishwasher door and put the stuff in. Since that morning it’s been my pleasure handling the dishwasher.
When we had the first guests from her family and other Hungarian friends of course after the meals I collected the dishes as usual and put them in the dishwasher – you should have seen some of those people’s faces … 🙂 🙂
PS:
The “best” indicator for the treatment of women is that they often lose their names when marrying – so Csaba Violetta turns into Orbán Ferencné.
And of course they lose all their rights – just in the good old times of Horthy.
–The point is that men should help their partners in everything, especially raising children.
Really ? Again the men who should help ? What are women supposed to help with their men ?
To team Ovidiu,
Can you look your respective mothers straight in the eyes when you come home after work and tell that you earned your daily bread and vodka with distracting, uttering racial opinions, discriminating women, falsely stating correlation implies causation and stating more ethically and morally low-level nonsense?
Idiot! I raised my son alone after the early dead of my wife! I know what it means. I had no choice, but men who don’t feel any responsibility are disgusting – just as your comment!
KKK = Kinder, Küche, Kirche
AOC & BERNIE • DES MOINES, IOWA • NOVEMBER 2019
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jan/25/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-aoc-support-bernie-sanders-2020-presidential-campaign-election-fuels-speculation-2024
AOC FOR PREZ 2024 ???
FEB 2ND ··· The Iowa primary is 4 days away. The powers-who-be will have a major shitfit if Sanders wins in a big way. Some polls show him ahead. We’ll see. I wont predict. The last time I said anything, which was before the 2016 US election, I got it wrong, opining that Clinton would win.
The thing about AOC, she is the first politico (since JFK & LBJ) who has been consistently referred to by her monogram. Of the two dead white prezes, Kennedy was widely loved. Johnson was monogrammed because of JFK. Nobody called Nixon RMN and nobody calls Trump DJT.
RESPECT RECEPTION ··· Alexandria got a good turnout subbing for Bernie, stuck in Washington. She’s one of the better politicos around. Let’s hope she stays that way.
MAGYARKOZÓ
It is about time that you published something like this. We all know that Viktor is a rotter and that he has an absurd love of football and small railways. As long as the economy continues to go well we are stuck with him. The point being that the opposition is every bit as bad as FIDESZ perhaps worse.
The danger, of course is that the weakness of the police, prosecution service and judiciary will pass by un -noticed
“The point being that the opposition is every bit as bad as FIDESZ perhaps worse”
Yes, that was what I heard too from the Fidesz supporters.
The only way for the opposition to overcome this would be for them to come with something new, with a remarkable and credible alternative. But they are many miles away from anything like that. The best they can is mumbling something old, tiresome if not downright irritating, about “european values”, as if we were still in the 1990s.
SAY WHAT ??? ··· The opposition to Orbán “perhaps worse” than Fidesz? What planet do you live on, JW? Fidesz has had a decade to solidify its Mafia machinery-of-state. While corruption did exist before the current Fidesz triple win, it could not have been characterized as ‘equivalent to’ or even “perhaps worse [than]” Fidesz. Did you major in hyperbole in college?
Corruption is part of the package that is MagyarLand. There need to be whistleblower laws coupled with anticorruption laws, however that wont be happening anytime soon as long as Fidesz has power.
MAGYARKOZÓ
Osborne, Walkley … lowly trolls using fancy Anglo names, eh?
You’re probably right, OH. It did occur to me, but the commnta seemed sufficiently different that I gave it a pass. As you know, the troll known as ‘b*lcs*’ got the boot at the beginning of the month. He resurfaced under various guises, each time getting the boot yet again. BTW, I asterisked ‘b*lcs*’ because otherwise my post wouldn’t get past Éva’s wordscreen. JW will be let stay as long as he doesn’t get too stupid.
MAGYARKOZÓ
Cousin Onslow is the echo of a voice from the crypt.
There is a difference though. In the Orbán era the government itself is corrupt not just lowly party apparatchiks.That’s what they call “systemic corruption.”
The less academic term is “arrogance”.