Calls for Orbán’s resignation: In Quaestor scandal, all roads lead to Fidesz

The usually splintered Hungarian left-centre opposition is now rallying around the possibility of holding a vote of non-confidence in parliament, after it surfaced that Prime Minister Viktor Orbán ordered government ministries and departments to withdraw funds from the recently collapsed Quaestor brokerage firm, days before it went bankrupt. Mr. Orbán claimed that it was after the Buda Cash scandal that he decided to instruct ministries to pull their funds, fearing a “domino effect” at other similar brokerages in Hungary. (The Hungarian Spectrum published an excellent English-language overview of how Quaestor sold billions of forints worth of fictitious bonds.)

József Tóbiás, leader of the Hungarian Socialist Party (MSZP), has initiated negotiations between the democratic opposition parties, where the Socialists, the Politics Can Be Different (LMP) green party, Együtt, Dialogue for Hungary (PM), the Democratic Coalition (DK) and the Liberals all agreed that “Viktor Orbán is unsuitable for the post of prime minister.” Mr. Tóbiás also called for the resignation of György Matolcsy, president of the Hungarian National Bank, as he failed to ensure that the central bank live up to his commitment of providing regulatory oversight of the financial sector, thus allowing for the issuance of fictitious bonds.

Moreover, the opposition called for the removal of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Péter Szijjártó. It had come to light earlier this week that Quaestor’s director, Csaba Tarsoly, is a close personal friend of Mr. Szijjártó and had written a private letter to the foreign minister accepting responsibility for the “irregularities” at his firm, but imploring authorities to leave his family alone in their investigation. Mr. Tarsoly also gave Mr. Szijjártó a second letter, effectively addressed to Mr. Orbán, in which he suggested that Quaestor could have been saved from bankruptcy, had the prime minister shown any willingness to cooperate in this regard.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs ended up pulling its funds at Quaestor on March 9th, even though Hungary’s central bank only suspended Quaestor’s brokerage license on March 10th.

In light of the above, allegations of insider trading are obviously growing. “The Foreign Ministry and its institutions had no unlawful information whatsoever,” noted ministry officials, when asked about how and why the department pulled its 3.8 billion forints (US$14 million) from Quaestor just before the firm went bankrupt. It emerged that Mr. Orbán had been the one to urge the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to pull its funds. 

Mr. Orbán drives away... Photo: Facebook.

Mr. Orbán drives away… Photo: Facebook.

Mr. Tóbiás added that the opposition parties will hold a joint demonstration in Budapest on April 11th, in order to rally the “humiliated and betrayed population.” The Socialists are demanding a vote of confidence in parliament on Mr. Orbán.

Dialogue for Hungary’s representative in the opposition negotiations, Timea Szabó, added that if the governing Fidesz-KDNP failed to allow for a vote of confidence in the legislature, the opposition must call for the dissolution of parliament.

The liberal 444.hu online publication highlighted that Mr. Orbán’s admission vis-a-vis the Quaestor scandal even managed to bring LMP’s András Schiffer to sit down with the broader left-wing opposition, despite his long-standing reticence when it comes to cooperating with them.

As sordid revelations of likely government corruption and collusion continue to hit the press, LMP may be inclined to continue cooperating with the opposition’s democratic parties. The most recent of these revelations is the news that Mr. Tarsoly’s personal secretary has a girlfriend, who happens to be the daughter of Péter Polt, Hungary’s Chief Prosecutor. But it is not only through his girlfriend that Mr. Tarsoly’s right-hand man is connected to Fidesz-KDNP. According to reports, Zoltán Mikuska was formerly a department head in the Prime Minister’s Office, prior to being picked up by Quaestor.

When it comes to this growing brokerage scandal, all roads seem to lead to Mr. Orbán and Fidesz.

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