Investigation into Hungarian Think Tank Embezzlement

Well, hello from Budapest on this Thursday.

Hungarian police yesterday raided offices linked to a

government-aligned think tank as part of an

embezzlement investigation. Now, the National Investigation

Office is looking into this publicly funded background company

of the Center for Fundamental Rights.

Investigators say the company paid more than 3.5

million forints a month, that is almost

$10,000, to a former foreign official who is now

internationally wanted, even though he did little actual

work. Apparently, all he did was produce a podcast

that no one listened to, and he had a sub stack with 11

subscribers.

Now, searches took place at the firm's Budapest

buildings,

its accountant's office, as well as the official's last known

Hungarian address.

Documents, contracts, invoices, payroll

records, and server data were seized, and

witnesses were also interviewed.

Now, the unnamed official is widely understood to be

Marcin Romanowski. He is a former Polish

deputy justice minister who fled to Budapest and who

remains under an international arrest warrant.

Earlier reporting linked the apartment where he stayed to the think

tank's operational director and to a board member of

another government-linked foundation.

The Center for Fundamental Rights was founded in 2013,

and it describes itself as a research organization

defending national identity, sovereignty, and Christian

values. It is led by Miklós Szántó,

who you can recognize from his very distinctive mustache.

They were

one of the chief organizers of CPAC, the times that it

was here in Hungary, and the Woke Busters theme from

one of the years was one of their ideas.

Now, police say they will analyze the seized

material to determine

whether a crime occurred, and if so, who should be held

responsible. No charges have been announced.

Now, about this Polish man. He is a Polish lawyer and politician.

He was under the law and justice government, the PIS,

as well as an

MP.

He is the subject of a high-profile criminal investigation in

Poland over alleged misuse of the Justice Fund.

This is a state pot meant to support crime

victims. But what prosecutors alleged and what led to

his arrest warrant and then his fleeing was

that he was participating in an organized criminal group that targeted

state property and that he steered the Justice Fund grants

towards favored organizations. This Romanowski apparently is

no longer in Hungary. Apparently, he fled to

Moldova soon after the election. What I can't

understand is that what would he have to

offer the Hungarian government so that they

decide that giving him 3.5 million forints

a month, which is a huge salary here in Hungary,

to be honest,

what does he have to offer that could be worth so much?

On the other hand, it's disgusting, of course, that anyone

gets a ghost job, a job where they don't have to turn up,

they don't have to

do anything, but they get paid. I mean, it's immoral, obviously,

maybe not criminal, but it should be.

When it comes to these police raids, this is not the first police raid that has

taken place. So, of course, we had the raid on the Fidesz

server farm, let's put it that way.

We also had a raid on offices associated

with our former governor of the Bank of Hungary, György

Matolcsy, and people close to his circle.

It's pretty clear that the police is stepping up its

activity and starting to seriously clamp down on

people who they believe are guilty of stuff.

This was in some way to be expected, but they have moved pretty quickly.

This Center for Fundamental Rights, I think, is just

very small fry. And I'm also sure that one of the reasons why they

did this is because of this international warrant out for this

Polish politician, a politician who I've already said

is no longer

in Hungary. Otherwise, the news from our prime minister is

that he is

in Rome. He is in Italy. He flew out to meet the Pope.

He took part in a Hungarian language mass earlier

today. He invited the Pope to come and visit

Hungary. And I'm happy because I'm Catholic.

I'm not such a huge fan of this current Pope, to tell you the truth, but that's

neither here nor there. But I wonder what the conditions

will be, because normally

when the Pope comes, he sets out a few conditions

for him to come. So this is going a long way back to, of course,

the

times of communism. But when Pope John Paul II came,

I remember that he had a deal to do with

telecommunications, to do with some roads.

He was unwilling to come here unless certain things were done.

I wonder if this current Pope will do something along those lines.

I doubt it.

Also, I wonder if there was any discussion about Hungary's

move towards sort of woke stuff, about following the

Brussels line of introducing sex and

gender studies into schools, which I'm sure Brussels

wants to do. I wonder if the Pope will say anything about that.

I'm sure not.

And I also wonder whether or not the topic of immigration will come

up.

Again, I'm sure that's probably not the case,

but who knows?

That's all for now. If you like my stuff, give me a like, give me a share. Thanks.