In April of 2015 Antal Rogán, today one of the most important members of the Orbán government, sued Péter Juhász of Együtt because Juhász had called him a criminal in connection with his real estate dealings while he was mayor of District V in Budapest. District V constitutes the heart of Budapest, where perhaps the most valuable pieces of real estate can be found. The opportunities for corruption in city halls are numerous, especially when a great number of buildings are still owned by the municipality. That was the case in District V. Over Rogán’s eight years in office, 800 units–apartments as well as storefronts–were sold to private individuals.
According to a city ordinance, the tenant of a property owned by the municipality has the right to purchase the rented property at a reduced price if the city decides to sell. Rogán and his fellow city politicians apparently devised a scheme to jack up the rents so high that the tenants, who had the right of first refusal, were forced to leave the premises for financial reasons. Then came a “friend” who rented the place for a couple of months, after which he could buy the property at a 30% discount to the market value. Often Rogán allowed further illegal cuts in the purchase price, with some individuals acquiring valuable pieces of property at half price. A few months later the new owner sold the property for twice his purchase price. The assumption is that all these “good offices” on the part of the mayor and other district officials cost money, which went straight into the pockets of the facilitators, including Rogán himself, whose visible enrichment has been the talk of the country for a number of years.
One case especially aroused interest because it involved a well-known criminal, Tamás Portik, who is currently serving a 15-year sentence for his role in instigating several murders. In 2014 it came to light that Portik’s common-law-wife or girlfriend, Marianne Pápa, who also happened to be the aunt-by-marriage of Árpád Habony, the mysterious advisor of Viktor Orbán, with the help of Portik managed to get a 212 m² storefront for 52 million forints, which they subsequently sold for 102 million, its fair market value. It was at this point that Juhász, who was by then a member of the city council of District V and therefore had access to the relevant documents, called Rogán a criminal who received kickbacks from well-known underworld characters.
A month after Juhász’s accusation, in January 2015, Rogán sued Juhász for 1 million forints by way of compensation and demanded a statement from him admitting that he had “falsely stated that during the mayoralty of Antal Rogán the municipality had any business dealings with Tamás Portik or with any person or company connected with him.” The court case got underway on April 16, but Antal Rogán didn’t show. I should add that by that time Juhász had filed several complaints in connection with the real estate deals and an investigation was underway. Juhász’s lawyer asked the judge to summon Portik to give evidence because Portik, on several occasions during his own trial, had testified that he knew Rogán and that Rogán was lying when he claimed otherwise. Not surprisingly, Rogán’s lawyer objected, but to no avail. The judge decided to call Portik to testify.
The court appearance was scheduled for yesterday, June 17. Rogán and his lawyer were not happy. They wanted to disqualify the judge because “the case is dragging on too long.” Moreover, Rogán expressed his dissatisfaction that the judge had set the date of the next court appearance without consulting him first and that, as a result, he cannot face his accuser. Once it became known that Rogán was refusing to appear in court, now for the second time, the opposition media indicated that Rogán for one reason or another doesn’t want to face Portik. As it turned out, he had every reason to avoid him. Even the restrained and cautious Népszabadság wrote in an editorial that Portik’s description of his relationship with Rogán was realistic. Yes, we can doubt the veracity of Portik, but can we believe Rogán? What about Rogán’s inexplicable enrichment? Portik’s testimony was devastating, the paper claimed.
The rules and regulations concerning the testimony of a witness are roughly the same as in the United States. If a witness is later found to have lied under oath, he can be charged with the crime of perjury. Therefore, Juhász argues, Portik’s testimony should be taken seriously.
From the testimony it became clear that Portik was well acquainted with the way Rogán’s scheme worked. He was familiar with the property Árpád Habony’s aunt acquired, and he said he was involved in the transaction as a kind of go-between. Allegedly, Rogán urgently needed 10 million forints, and because both “Árpi and Marianne” understood that Portik knew Rogán, they asked him to deliver the amount in euros. Portik described the exact location of the Fidesz office where he handed the money to Rogán. Apparently, Rogán later complained that the money he received wasn’t quite enough, at which point “Marianne remarked that, as it is, Tóni is far too expensive.” That apparently wasn’t the only encounter between Rogán and Portik. They were both guests of honor at the opening of Nobu, Andy Vajna’s restaurant in the Kempinsky Hotel in Budapest.
Clik here to view.
Péter Juhász with his lawyer and Portik in the courtroom
Rogán’s lawyer was in trouble, and his only strategy was to rely on a 2008 conversation between Sándor Laborc, head of the National Security Office, and Portik. Portik had approached him to complain about right-wing elements in the police force who were badgering him to hand over incriminating information about leading members of MSZP. Portik at this point was very worried about a Fidesz win in the 2010 election and therefore offered to find dirt on men in the service of Fidesz, stressing during the conversation his allegiance to MSZP. Rogán’s lawyer kept returning to this conversation, trying to prove that Portik’s story had to be sheer fabrication because, given his strong commitment to the left, he couldn’t have had highly-placed Fidesz friends. A feeble argument.
The government mouthpiece Magyar Idők was also in trouble when it came to discrediting Portik’s testimony. It claimed that Portik didn’t remember the details of his meeting with Rogán, which was simply not true. The paper also maintained that Portik contradicted himself because he testified that he had never given any money to a Fidesz politician when, in fact, he had. But was that a contradiction? Of course not. Surely, there is a difference between giving your own money to a person and delivering somebody else’s money.
888.hu invoked the specter of communism. Portik, an ordinary criminal, is for them “one of the last undercover agents” of the Kádár regime, who has been engaged in dirty political work against Fidesz ever since 1990. Liberal journalists hate the leading Fidesz politicians so much that they are ready to use a feared criminal to discredit the government.
On the other hand, Magyar Nemzet, nowadays a conservative opposition paper, took Portik’s testimony seriously. “If one tenth of what we have heard from Portik is true, Rogán must go,” László Szemán wrote in an editorial. As the title of the piece indicates, Orbán has no choice. He must let him go. The dominoes are falling.