Hungary's economic figures 'prove' there is no systematic corruption

Hungary's economic figures 'prove' there is no systematic corruption
Copyright REUTERS/Adriano Machado/File Photo
By Sandor ZsirosEuronews
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Hungary's foreign minister Péter Szijjártó told Euronews that there was no systematic corruption in his country. The EU's anti-fraud office begs to differ.

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Hungary's economic figures prove the country does not suffer from systematic corruption, its foreign minister has told Euronews.

Péter Szijjártó was hitting back at a report by OLAF, the EU's anti-fraud office, that there were irregularities regarding Hungary's use of the bloc's cohesion funds.

Szijjártó, Hungary's foreign and trade minister, said he did not know how OLAF had come to that conclusion.

"Look at countries with serious corruption problems... if there's a systematic rate of corruption then money disappears. If there's no systematic corruption, money does not disappear," said.

He said Hungary's employment and growth rates proved that there was no corruption problem.

But in September, OLAF, the EU's anti-fraud agency, released a report that stated almost 4% of development funding that went to Hungary between 2014-2018 is in question.

This was the highest percentage in the EU.

When asked about why the anti-fraud agency said there were irregularities, Szijjártó replied: "Ask them. I don't know."

Transparency International ranks Hungary 64 out of 180 countries on its corruption perceptions index.

It is ranked at the bottom of the corruption index for EU countries, third lowest after Bulgaria and Greece.

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