Motion for revision no. JOG/63/2024

In its decision no. 02000/246-10/2024.bü, the Department of Economic Protection of the Criminal Directorate at the Baranya County Police Headquarters dismissed the complaint filed on the suspicion of misappropriation of funds resulting in particularly substantial financial loss and other criminal offences due to the lack of suspicion of a criminal offence.

The Integrity Authority has filed a motion for revision against the investigating authority’s decision dismissing the complaint, proposing the abrogation of the investigating authority’s decision and the initiation of an investigation.

According to the complaint forming the basis of the procedure, the director of a company owned exclusively by the municipality of a village is a relative of the village mayor, and the ltd. lacks transparent management practices and does not have a supervisory board in place. Furthermore, the complaint criticises that the mayor of the village made commitments to asset purchases worth HUF 50 million net and public works projects totaling HUF 281 million net completed between January 2021 and June 2023 without financial countersignature, while the renovation works on municipally owned properties were carried out by various companies within the mayor’s sphere of interest, with invoices being accepted and settled by the contractor without a certificate of completion issued by the technical supervisor, as revealed in a control report on the audit of the municipality’s management and asset management.

According to the Authority’s motion for revision filed on 31 July 2024, the decision dismissing the complaint and the published, anonymised file register indicate that the investigating authority did not carry out substantial investigative actions in the case and the decision to dismiss the complaint is based solely on the contents of the complaint.

Considering also the significant amount of national wealth involved in the case, the Authority finds it necessary to order an investigation to establish whether the mayor of the village actually made commitments and approved payments concerning the renovation works of municipally owned properties in violation of the law.

The competent public prosecutor’s office has abrogated the decision dismissing the complaint ex officio and ordered an investigation.