Szegedist
04-23-2013, 04:57 PM
An alleged plan by a secret service chief and an accused criminal to discredit Fidesz politicians in order to help Socialist MPs win re-election is one of the “gravest political scandals of last 20 years”, the governing Fidesz party said on Tuesday.
On Monday, the Magyar Nemzet website published details of a recently declassified transcript of conversations that took place in 2008 between Sandor Laborc, a former secret services chief, and former oil dealer Tamas Portik, who is currently under arrest in connection with murder.
Portik is said to have offered information discrediting right-wing politicians to promote the left’s victory in the 2010 elections. Portik confided to Laborc that he was worried he would be arrested once the right wing came to power.
Laborc also asked Portik to disclose confidential information that might aid the Socialist Party’s election campaign, and gave him his telephone number, the newspaper said.
Mate Kocsis, the ruling party’s communications chief, demanded the declassification of minutes from last year’s hearing on the Portik-Laborc conversations. The minutes could reveal whether Laborc met Portik on his own initiative or whether he “fulfilled an order,” he said.
A team of experts is currently investigating alleged criminal activities linked to the Portik-Laborc meetings. If necessary, a report will be submitted to the police, Kocsis added.
Meanwhile, the Together 2014-Dialogue for Hungary (E14-PM) electoral alliance demanded the release of all documents pertaining to alleged cooperation between Hungary’s secret services and criminals under the Socialists. The ultranationalist Jobbik party made the same demand separately.
Dialogue for Hungary called for an extraordinary session of parliament “in the interest of discovering how the secret services and criminal underworld, and the underworld and politics, were connected over the past 23 years.”
E14-PM lawmaker Timea Szabo told a press briefing that “ordering” evidence from a criminal to compromise politicians was “unacceptable”.
Jobbik deputy group leader Janos Volner told a news conference that details of “ties between the (then ruling) Socialist Party and the criminal world aiming at keeping the Socialists in power after the 2010 elections” should be revealed.
Socialist leader Attila Mesterhazy called the conversation shocking, “going far beyond of the scope of what is acceptable.” He condemned the use the secret services to promote political goals or encouraging criminals to discredit their opponents.
Mesterhazy said it would be inconceivable for the Socialists to resort to such trickery. “Secret services should be kept very far from party politics,” he said.
On Monday, the Magyar Nemzet website published details of a recently declassified transcript of conversations that took place in 2008 between Sandor Laborc, a former secret services chief, and former oil dealer Tamas Portik, who is currently under arrest in connection with murder.
Portik is said to have offered information discrediting right-wing politicians to promote the left’s victory in the 2010 elections. Portik confided to Laborc that he was worried he would be arrested once the right wing came to power.
Laborc also asked Portik to disclose confidential information that might aid the Socialist Party’s election campaign, and gave him his telephone number, the newspaper said.
Mate Kocsis, the ruling party’s communications chief, demanded the declassification of minutes from last year’s hearing on the Portik-Laborc conversations. The minutes could reveal whether Laborc met Portik on his own initiative or whether he “fulfilled an order,” he said.
A team of experts is currently investigating alleged criminal activities linked to the Portik-Laborc meetings. If necessary, a report will be submitted to the police, Kocsis added.
Meanwhile, the Together 2014-Dialogue for Hungary (E14-PM) electoral alliance demanded the release of all documents pertaining to alleged cooperation between Hungary’s secret services and criminals under the Socialists. The ultranationalist Jobbik party made the same demand separately.
Dialogue for Hungary called for an extraordinary session of parliament “in the interest of discovering how the secret services and criminal underworld, and the underworld and politics, were connected over the past 23 years.”
E14-PM lawmaker Timea Szabo told a press briefing that “ordering” evidence from a criminal to compromise politicians was “unacceptable”.
Jobbik deputy group leader Janos Volner told a news conference that details of “ties between the (then ruling) Socialist Party and the criminal world aiming at keeping the Socialists in power after the 2010 elections” should be revealed.
Socialist leader Attila Mesterhazy called the conversation shocking, “going far beyond of the scope of what is acceptable.” He condemned the use the secret services to promote political goals or encouraging criminals to discredit their opponents.
Mesterhazy said it would be inconceivable for the Socialists to resort to such trickery. “Secret services should be kept very far from party politics,” he said.