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Central Europe
February 16, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 13
organised fraud linked to a company once co-owned by the prime minister's son-in-law, Istvan Tiborcz.
On Wednesday, two new cases were reported by the local media, one involving the state secretary of the development ministry, who has helped prepared EU-financed projects, with his legal firm then later being in charge of deciding on the projects.
The other included 43 tenders with HUF300mn each for the installation of science equipment for elemen- tary schools. The projects were excessively over- priced and authorities found conflicts of interests and accounting tricks used to channel out money.
Tender Network Ltd, which carried out feasibility studies for the science equipment project, was also involved in the LED lighting tender for the PM's son-in-law.
"The government of Hungary today cannot be blackmailed, we are independent, Orban told Fidesz lawmakers. “After 2010, by taking over energy companies, banks and part of the press in German hands, the country's susceptibility to blackmail has ceased.
"The stake of the elections is whether there will be an independent government or one that can be blackmailed. The latter will give up independence
and allow Hungary to become an immigrant country", Orban stressed.
"There is an ongoing smear campaign against the cabinet, assisted by international institutions and newspapers and financed by foreign interest groups that want a change of government," Or- ban said, referring to recent articles in the inter- national press that have reported in great detail about Hungary's democracy deficit, rampant cor- ruption, and crony capitalism.
"Foreign energy firms want to recoup profits lost from the fixed level of energy prices, banks want to get back bank tax, and the international left with the help of Soros and Brussels wants us to accept migrants against our will", he said.
The government has touted the lowering of util- ity prices by freezing them in 2014 as one its major achievements, but that claim has suffered a great blow on Wednesday after opposition parties re- vealed that households paid much more for gas for years than the market price would have justified.
The Socialists published official figures from the state-owned gas wholesaler, which kept the documents secret until they were forced by Hungary's highest court to release them after years of legal battle.
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