The scandal around the company affairs of the Renew Europe group’s vice-president broke out last summer. Now it has emerged that the suspicious transactions have led to searches and the initiation of competition supervision proceedings in recent days. The case is also under investigation by the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF).

The Hungarian Competition Authority (GVH) conducted house searches and initiated competition supervision proceedings on grounds of suspicious transactions by the network of companies linked to Hungarian liberal MEP Katalin Cseh, daily Magyar Nemzet portal writes, citing Mediaworks News Centre (Hircentrum).

According to the portal, Gyula Budai, a governing party politician, requested information from GVH whether any proceedings based on the economic competition law had been initiated against the businesses forming part of a network of companies with links to Katalin Cseh. The businesses in question had been involved in application procedures where the winning applicants indirectly shared the same corporate interests as the successful contracting firms, says Mr Budai, who has filed several complaints in the case.

„On 19 January 2022, the Hungarian Competition Authority launched competition supervision proceedings and on-premises investigations against the specific companies named in the request, as well as against additional businesses for suspected infringement of bans on agreements restricting competition as stipulated in the law on the prohibition of unfair market behaviour and restriction of competition,”

the GVH’s response reads. However, the authority pointed out that the opening of competition supervision proceedings does not mean that the companies have committed the alleged infringement. The procedures aim to clarify the facts and thereby prove the alleged infringement.

As V4NA reported earlier, the company linked to the Momentum party politician and her family, together with their business circle may have been operating as a network of companies that systemically and fraudulently accessed Hungarian development funds and EU subsidies. According to information published in the Hungarian press, the companies systematically collaborated to maximise profits by repeatedly relocating their headquarters and branch offices. These companies may have pocketed approximately 13 million euros in EU funding under suspicious circumstances.

Based on the filed complaints, the National Tax and Customs Authority of Hungary (NAV) has launched an investigation into suspected budgetary fraud, while OLAF, the European Anti-Fraud Office, is also investigating the case.