During the last ten years we have become numb to the rude, offensive, aggressive, outrageous statements of the leading and not so leading Fidesz politicians. We have often speculated about what these characters are actually thinking beyond what they publicly express, what their sectarian, inbred world looks like, but we rarely have the opportunity to get a first-hand account of their world.
Now we have been given such an insight, compliments of the investigative journalists of Magyar Narancs and some Fidesz members.
Here it is from the horse’s mouth: “Touring the area, talking to Fidesz members, I was shocked by the fear and dread I witnessed among them. Many stated that they did not dare to express their views publicly on this matter, due to the existential and physical threats by György Simonka. It is amazing that 30 years after the change of regime, an elected representative uses the methods of the Rákosi period, known to us only from history.”
Márton Ruck, President of Fidesz in Medgyesegyháza, wrote these words in a letter to the Chairman of the Fidesz County Organization, the latest salvo in the internal war among the ruling party’s South Békés branch. He called for the expulsion from the party of György Simonka, a Fidesz member of parliament, former mayor of Medgyesegyháza, and the local party strongman. In Ruck’s opinion, the expulsion of Simonka is “absolutely justified.” “Such a person has no place in the family of our party.” The proposal is supported by “several times the number of signatures needed for the expulsion,” claimed Ruck.
Although Ruck expresses his adherence to “the Fidesz set of values,” he informs his party comrades in the letter that he will not send the proposal for expulsion to the Pusztaottlaka organization, of which Simonka is still a member, since he does not want to expose the signatories and their family members to “the risk of losing their jobs, the destruction of their businesses, or the physical abuse of their family members.”
The Fidesz city organization president signed his letter about the Fidesz MP for his region with the following dramatic sentence: “As a Catholic Christian believer, I conclude with the words of Pope John Paul II. Fear not!”
Before anyone starts speculating about the authenticity of the letter and the veracity of its statements, note that Magyar Narancs got in touch with Ruck, who confirmed the authenticity of the official letter and said he stands by all of its contents, “I have described everything, everything has been justified, and I do not want to say anything else for the time being,” he said.
In view of the above statements about “Rákosi methods,” fear, intimidation, and threats among the party “family,” one can’t help musing about that “Fidesz set of values” and where they are to be found, since intimidation and fear are widespread throughout the entire organization. Moreover, the criminal acts have not been confined to small town or county Fidesz organizations but have gone all the way to the top of “the party and state leadership,” to use the term of the earlier communist regime.
I’ve included the above photo of the Godfather with the small capo to highlight the fact that, upon the initiative of Simonka, two laws were amended to practically facilitate what was known to be and what has now been formally prosecuted as criminal activities, confirmed by the Chief Prosecutor himself.
For those who missed earlier reports in Hungarian Spectrum or don’t know Hungarian, let me add some notes about the “Simonka case.” Starting in 2012, our local strongman built a network of companies and foundations, all of which invariably won state grants for projects in fields from road building to media, even to a peacock farm. Relatives, party comrades, and clients managed those entities, none of which grew into a real competitive business. Typical for the new “national capitalists,” largely a fiction touted by Fidesz.
By 2015 there were obvious signs of the ever more brazen corruption thinly disguised by unfeasible and fictitious projects, estimated to have burnt between 7 and 16 billion HUF in the roads to nowhere projects alone.
Simonka (center) with another Fidesz “luminary” Gyula Budai (right).
The illegal watermelon cartel episode brought the Simonka name to national attention.
Things went as usual in these cases, but here the brazen misappropriations, embezzlement, or whatever you want to call it, were accompanied by aggressive methods and arrogance, as noted by the local Fidesz organization president, which obviously surpassed the “standard” Fidesz methods.
The signs of serious trouble for Simonka & Co. began in 2017 when an investigation was launched into some of their projects. At the beginning of that year, charges were laid against a group of 33 defendants for fraud (költségvetési csalás) committed within the framework of a criminal organization (bűnszervezetben), for which the prosecution asked a 8.5 years jail sentence for our protagonist (but watch this space).
There is a lot of speculation about how the local Fidesz strongman came to the point of being charged with what we consider to be a routine practice in the grand corruption system of the Orbán regime. For lack of reliable evidence, I won’t go into these theories. Suffice it to say that this is as rare a case as a white crow. And in view of the damning evidence which was bound to come to light and embarrass the party and regime, it is quite inexplicable, to me at least.
In conclusion, I would like to return to the main point of this post—the methods and the environment of intimidation and fear even among the Fidesz lower ranks. One can hardly imagine how the powerless and often impoverished ordinary folks in the countryside feel, living at the mercy of the Orbán mafia, with God too high and King too far.
August 30, 2020