Good neighbors: Tobacco scandal continues in downtown Budapest

Antal Rogán is the parliamentary floor leader of Fidesz, the mayor of District V. in Budapest and also one of the emblematic faces of the government. His neighbor, Csaba Csetényi won nine tobacco tenders, and the municipality will provide three premises to his business. Csetényi applied to the tobacco tenders through his company, Hamu és Gyémánt Kft. (Ash & Diamond Media Ltd) with his brother and with co-owner Tibor Krskó. All three granted premises are located in the heart of Budapest, an area frequently visited by tourists.

It is not the first tender the Ash & Diamond Ltd wins in District V.: in 2009, the municipality granted 68 million HUF (~234,000 EUR) for the PR of the “Main street of the Downtown” project. In 2011, they won 120 million HUF (~412,000 EUR) for the PR of the district council, but – according to Rogán – this contract has been terminated because of the media pressure. In the same year, they won a tender (88 million HUF, ~300,000 EUR) from the Ministry of Justice, related to the media strategy, PR and administration of Hungary`s presidency of the Council of the European Union.

Apart from these, the HG 360 Media Agency Ltd. (member of the Ash & Diamond group, also owned by Csetényi) won four additional tenders from various governmental agencies, such as the National Development Agency. The total sum acquired via procurements is approximately 1.5 Md HUF (~5.15 million EUR).

This text was originally published here in Hungarian language on 04 June 2013.
Translated by Péter Gyarmati.