BUDAPEST, (Reuters) – Hungary’s chief prosecutor has asked parliament to lift the immunity of former Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany on suspicion of abuse of authority related to a casino investment, prosecutors said yesterday.
Gyurcsany headed two Socialist governments between 2004 and 2009, when he stepped down amid a financial crisis.
“The prosecutors launched a procedure based on well-founded suspicion of abuse of authority,” Miklos Horanyi, spokesman of the Chief Prosecutor’s Office told Reuters.
He said proceedings could start when Gyurcsany’s immunity is lifted by parliament, where the ruling centre-right Fidesz-KDNP has a two-thirds majority.
“This is about the Sukoro real estate swap issue,” the spokesman said, but declined to give further details.
The prosecutors said in a statement to national news agency MTI that Gyurcsany would be heard as a suspect in the case.
Prosecutors have been conducting an investigation since 2009 into land swap deals linked to a planned casino investment in Sukoro, 40 kms (25 miles) west of Budapest.
Gyurcsany said yesterday on his Facebook page that he would relinquish his parliamentary immunity.
“The brief official letter (from the prosecutors) says that I am suspected of abuse of authority,” Gyurcsany said.
“If I have to fight for myself, my policies, or with my political opponents, let it be. I am ready for it,” he said.
Gyurcsany told Reuters the allegation was false and politically motivated.
“This government founded on autocracy, after the media law scandal and the constitution scandal, now believes it will take revenge on its political opponent in court, then I will become their political accuser in the court,” he said.
The green-liberal party LMP in 2009 filed a report with the prosecutors against Gyurcsany, saying he violated legal regulations referring to publicity and the involvement of citizens when his government was preparing legislation to define a private casino project a special priority investment.
According to local media reports, a group of U.S., Israeli, German and Hungarian investors wanted to invest 300-400 billion forints ($1.68-$2.25 billion) in a casino city, in a project which later fell through.
The ruling Fidesz party has considered Gyurcsany a pariah of Hungarian politics since the former premier’s leaked admission in 2006 that his Socialists had lied about the economy to win a second successive term in power that year. The leaked speech triggered riots in 2006.
Fidesz has also branded Gyurcsany a “limousine Socialist” for his wealth amassed in the early years of privatisation.