Budapest, February 12 (MTI) – The left-of-centre Unity opposition alliance is launching a parliamentary procedure against Hungary’s trade chief, Peter Szijjarto, suspecting him of failing to fully declare his assets.
Socialist Party spokeswoman Bernadett Budai and Zsolt Greczy, spokesman of the Democratic Coalition, told a news conference on Wednesday that Szijjarto had not accounted for 16 million forints (EUR 50,000) on his asset declaration form.
They called on Prime Minister Viktor Orban to question the state secretary about the circumstances of the accumulation of his assets.
In response, Szijjarto’s press chief said that the state secretary was prepared to inform his critics about trends in his financial standing even though Budai and Greczy had “lied unscrupulously and had a poor acquaintance with numbers”.
Judit Fulop said that Szijjarto’s investment portfolio had amounted to nearly 63 million forints in late 2012 as shown in his asset declaration. Due to 37 transactions carried out in 2013, involving share sales and purchases and transactions with insurance and investment funds, the amount increased to over 78 million forints by end of 2013, she said.
Furthermore, the state secretary kept reinvesting the yields and the amounts saved from his monthly salary, Fulop said.
Photo: MTI