TAX OFFICE COMPUTER SCANDAL RIPPLES ON

György László Király, President of APEH (Tax and Revenue Office) has given recently contradictory declarations about the necessity of picking taxpayers’ data from the data base of APEH. It has turned out meanwhile that the database of private citizens and firms are preserved on magnetic discs in a sealed chest kept in a room protected by bars… Experts of data protection and informatics unanimously disapprove the move of APEH.

Experts who know the informatical system of APEH believe this method served the purpose of removing these data from the control of the system. Lawyers dealing with data protection find it astounding that external persons without the necessary national security lustration are able to penetrate the informatical system and structure of the Tax Office.

According to experts it is impossible that the employees of Hunaudit Ltd could form a professional opinion about APEH without knowing the system. After this unprecedented move, otherwise performed with the agreement of the Minister of Finance, one can have seriousw doubts about tax secrets of Hungarian citizens.

Experts also maintain that the Tax Office system has a multiple datasaving device which makes superficial such actions which are suspected of the intention of manipulating tax data as the copies do not record access in their files. It is interesting that the President of the APEH did not even try to use professional arguments to defend his position as from a professional point of view his move is inexplicable. The tax law was seriously violated and we do not know yet who will benefit from the illegitimate action.

Translated by Péter Szentmihályi Szabó