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The Budapest District Court acquitted Béla Kovács of espionage. Kovács was Jobbik’s MEP from 2009 to 2017 and was accused by the Constitutional Protection Office of spying on Russia. He is accused of handing over information to Russian agents to help dismantle the EU institutions.
The case was a major issue in the 2014 elections (parliamentary and EP), the deputy was appointed “KÁGéBéla”, and Jobbik’s pro-Russian and anti-EU policies at that time were partly linked to his influence. His case has attracted serious international attention.
After the 2014 report against Kovács, an investigation was only launched in 2017. The MP kept saying that he was not a spy. That year, Kovács left Jobbik and also retired from politics in 2018.
Although Kovács was acquitted of espionage, this Thursday he was convicted in another case related to his work as an MEP. Following an alert from OLAF, he was prosecuted for budget fraud by creating fictitious traineeships and improperly withdrawing € 21,000 from the EP’s coffers. Therefore, he was sentenced to a year and a half of suspended prison and a fine of 600,000 HUF now, in the first instance.
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