LMP aims to separate public money from offshore companies with bill resubmission
After resubmitting a bill for a third time, which seeks to put a clear divide between offshore companies and public money, leaders of the Green Party LMP spoke at length about the necessity of this bill, during a press conference yesterday, Hungarian news agency MTI reported.
LMP co-leader, András Schiffer, said that the role of offshoring, in the outflow of Hungarian money is “immense”, citing that the equivalent of two and a half times the Hungarian government debt being diverted to tax havens is “a serious cancer on the Hungarian economy.”
He believes that companies with unclear ownership should be forbidden from transacting with state or municipal companies, and that the ban against civil servants, government officials and politicians owning offshore companies should extend to government consultants and the prime minister.
Bernadett Szél, LMPʼs other co-leader, remarked that because so much money had been “pumped out so shamelessly” over the past five years, significant resources are now missing from health care, education and the social sector.
She also targeted Hollywood producer Andy Vajna, currently the governmentʼs film commissioner, as having conflicted interests, in as much that he has a casino and other business interests in Hungary, saying “this man has no place being near public money.” Earlier reports suggested that Vajna allegedly built his empire by transferring profits from his Casino concessions and most funds acquired in Hungary to an offshore company.
