Agrandissement : Illustration 1
OLAF urged the Hungarian authoritites to investigate the case. The investigation was started and soon closed by the Prosecutor claiming that "no crime has been committed".Now it looks like the Hungarian government has "shied away" from claiming the money they were planning to for the lighting project and they will probably cover the sum from the Hungarian state budget, i. e. from Hungarian taxpayers's money.
OLAF stated the following at the end of last year:
"At the end of 2017, OLAF concluded an investigation into possible irregularities related to 35 lighting projects implemented under the Hungarian Environment and Energy Operational Program, and co-financed by the European Cohesion Funds. The scope of the projects was to renovate the public lighting infrastructure in various Hungarian Municipalities using environmentally friendly and power-saving LED technology products. OLAF's investigation revealed not only serious irregularities in most of the projects, but also evidence of conflict of interest.
OLAF sent its final report with financial recommendations to the European Commission Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy (DG REGIO), and judicial recommendations to the General Prosecutor of Hungary.
On the judicial side, it is up to the national judiciary to decide whether or not to follow-up on OLAF's recommendations. Even if no criminal case is opened at national level, this does not invalidate OLAF's findings and evidence with regard to financial recovery."
Before this, already in OLAF's 2017 report there were some powerful statements:
"A similar scenario was uncovered in Hungary during an investigation into 35 lighting projects implemented under the Hungarian Environment and Energy Operational Program and cofinanced by the European Structural and Investment Funds. The projects were aimed at updating the public lighting infrastructure in various Hungarian municipalities using environmentally friendly and power-saving LED technology products. OLAF verified the grant applications and found that the initial cost estimations calculated by the applicants were irregular, with artificial supporting documents used to justify a cost benefit analysis. Moreover, a consulting company linked with the main contractor had signed a contract with several beneficiaries to draft the technical annex to their project application, and could thus influence the content of the technical specifications used by the beneficiary during the tender procedure. OLAF also uncovered numerous serious irregularities that had occurred during the public procurement procedures. It also identified conflict of interest between some consultants and the works company. Upon concluding its investigation at the end of 2017, OLAF sent its final report with financial recommendations to the European Commission Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy to recover EUR 43.7 million, and judicial recommendations to the General Prosecutor of Hungary. "