OFF-SHORE COMPANY IN DISPUTED BUSINESS OF THE MINISTRY OF DEFENCE

The company commissioned by the Ministry of Defence bought an An-26 cargo plane through a company in Jerevan, registered in Cyprus, without any public acquisition tender, Zsolt Csampa MP (Hungarian Democratic Forum) claims.

He said in a briefing yesterday that Specimpex Ltd, registered in Szolnok bought the Ukrainian, renovated An-26 cargo plane through Parkwood Trading Ltd registered in Limassol, and immediately sold the plane for HUF 600 million to the Ministry of Defence. The purchase preceded only one day the Ministry’s decision of the purchase on December 9, 2003. Earlier Nándor Hollósi, chief adviser to Ferenc Juhász, Minister of Defence said Specimpex had bought the plane from a Russian company while Imre Iváncsik, political state secretary of the Ministry said it was a purchase on favourable price. The opposition criticized the deal without public acquisition tender and now there is another question: what was the original price of the cargo plane, swelled by the profit of two mediating firms?

Translated by Péter Szentmihályi Szabó