Budapest Mayor Still Refuses to Deny His Campaign Used Foreign Funds + Video

The mayor of Budapest calls it a lie that his 2019 campaign may have received money from abroad. However, his claimes are not bolstered by the information package sent to the daily Magyar Nemzet newspaper.

Budapest Mayor Gergely Karacsony (Source: Screenshot, Videa.hu)

According to the information package obtained by Magyar Nemzet, a company - named Bakony Rental Ltd. - mainly dealing with car rentals received HUF 112.5 million from a mysterious foreign source ahead of the 2019 municipal elections. 

The owner of the company is Zsolt Mravik, who is the partner of Csaba Tordai, Budapest Mayor Gergely Karácsony's confidant.

Through Zsolt Mravik, with the help of a city hall intermediary, HUF 75 million could have gone to the head of the Mindenki Budapestert (All for Budapest) organization, a man named Gabor Perjes, another one of the mayor's confidants.

Within a short time, Mr Perjes deposited this money in several instalments in a bank account, but he made sure that he always deposited less than ten million forints each time. 

Budapest Mayor Gergely Karacsony called the information processed by Magyar Nemzet a "lie". 

Despite this, Mr Karacsony did not deny that foreign funds had been injected into his campaign. Instead, he stated that all his campaigns were conducted in compliance with Hungarian laws.

He told Magyar Nemzet that no donations had been accepted from anyone expecting something in return. He emphasized that everything they did during their campaign was legal and correct in every regard.

However, the mayor confirmed to Magyar Nemzet that he is in daily contact with Csaba Tordai and that they talk regularly.

He described Mr Tordai as one of his most important colleagues. Mr Karacsony would not answer whether he'd ever consulted Mr Tordai in connection with this case.