He fled abroad with almost 600,000 crowns, the biggest swindler of the early 20th century.

Not just Hungarian forensics, but all of Hungary in the 20th. One of the most amazing moments in the history of the early 20th century was the first serious embezzlement case of the century. A young official named Győző Kecskeméthy left the country with an amount that would still astonish him today. He was never detained, but his case probably contributed to the transformation of a system that until now had represented a significant financial burden for officials.

A young man named Győző Kecskeméty ranks first among the Hungarian criminals of the last century. In 1901, the 22-year-old civil servant stole 588 thousand crowns, almost 200 million florins of the current capital of the capital. The young officer disappeared in cold blood, twice assuming the lieutenant who was traveling with him, so he was never located. He has an almost espionage chronicle of how, according to his subsequent round, a “sickly-looking” but even more junk and cold-blooded man stole district tax payments during the time they were transported from the tax office to City Hall.

The man stepped in with a full quarterly payment from the Budapest districts, and was then only able to recover the 500 crowns that he had put on him as a kind of bail in case he could cause damage. At the beginning of the last century, officials were still responsible for clients’ money at two-thirds of their salary.

The office was a personal financial responsibility.

This is because the financial responsibility for each job has a history that goes back several centuries. Győző Kecskeméthy entered the same system – as did his family members – when, based on his treasury practice and legal studies, he obtained the important position in the capital’s tax office, which he took advantage of, he committed one of the biggest embezzlements by Hungarian forensics. As early as the 1700s, there were occupations that required the worker to deposit some collateral in the treasury. The objective was to force the trustee to be more alert and “cover the damages derived from his breach of official functions.” they had to pay two thirds of their salary. The deposit was only returned if they retired or changed jobs.

The collateral proved to be a serious filter in the field, many of whom could only find a loan with a high interest rate. The document found in the Financial History Collection, presented by OTPedia, shows Ferenc Fekete’s 1887 offer document. The amount of six hundred florins deposited in strict liquidation was general in Hungary. In 1868, a postal official earned 600 florins a year in the country, in Budapest in 1899 this amount, together with the rent subsidy, already exceeded 700 florins.

Officials could post the bond in cash, securities or a real estate mortgage, and had the option of paying in 36 months. The state paid 5 percent annual interest on the guarantee, and after 1893 it was only 4 percent.

Probably Győző Kecskeméthy also divided and multiplied, and the mathematics came out: the money from the 500 kronor deposit, the interest of the state and, of course, his own impunity are not worth as much to him as the wealth at his fingertips. Therefore, after obtaining the tax receipts from his bag, he ordered the clerk in front of him to wait for him to go to the post office. However, when he released a wheel from the scene, he did not go to a post office but, according to further investigations, to the East Station, and perhaps boarded a train, leaving the country immediately, to which he probably never returned.

The search for units was in vain

When it became clear at City Hall that the district’s tax revenue was simply stolen by the official in charge, a great panic broke out. But then, with the involvement of the police, it took several hours for the information in circulation to reach the most important border and railway stations: probably Győző Kecskeméthy had already spent the night of November 15, 1901 abroad.

Kecskeméthy Győző was never found. He had no sense of humor, since a few days after his disappearance, all his creditors received a letter from him, including the exact amount of his debt.
The police imposed a blood bounty of four thousand and then twenty thousand crowns on his head, sending detectives around the world for years, but to no avail. The history of embezzlement was, of course, an important prize for the contemporary press. They had been dealing with the case for years, regularly reporting rumors that the embezzlement officer had been seen showing up here and there in major European cities. Apparently, although this has not been officially confirmed, ten years after his disappearance, Kecskeméthy even annoyed the Hungarian authorities by sending them mocking letters.

Furthermore, according to a press report from 1924, Győző Kecskeméthy appeared in South America, where he lived as a wealthy person. The Hungarian authorities were informed of this indirectly, although it is already questionable whether the simultaneous, sensational and scandalous embezzlement case is still alive or has become obsolete.

Either way, Kecskeméthy was never brought to justice, but he did so without consequences. The guarantee scheme for public office duties has overloaded the wallets of officials. After the turn of the century, more and more people questioned the meaning of guarantee, referring more than once to the example of Kecskeméty, asI would not have deterred you from embezzling knowing that if you misappropriated 588,000 crowns, you would lose the security of 500 crowns. “

The service guarantee was abolished in 1904 at the proposal of the Minister of Finance, but the practice even occurred in 1919 in some places.

Sources: OTPedia, Felsőmagyarországi Hírlap, player.hu