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In the absence of evidence, the General Court of Kecskemét legally acquitted the former Szilárd Kiss and his comrades of the charge of bribery – writes 24.hu.
The three defendants in the case were Szilárd Kiss, the then Ministerial Agent of the Ministry of Agriculture, Gyula Sziky, former owner of Spartacus FC in Nyíregyháza, and Imre Gellért, former president of the Cooperativa de Ahorro Orgovány y Vidéke. They were arrested in early 2015.
According to the indictment, the Monte Tokaj wine company, owned by Szilárd Kiss, obtained a loan of 500 million HUF from the Cooperativa de Ahorro Soltvadkert és Vidéke in 2010, but did not pay it, the money was already 600 million HUF when the savings cooperative collapsed in 2012. The claim and coverage were transferred to the Cooperativa de Ahorro Orgovány és Vidéke. According to the indictment, Szilárd Kiss visited Gyula Sziky to take back Tokaj’s property at a low price.
The defendants denied their guilt at all times, the evidence was only wiretapping, according to which Sziky negotiated several times with Kiss on behalf of Kiss and agreed that the claim of the savings cooperative would be bought by a company known to Gyula Sziky for 335 thousand euros (today about 120 million florins). According to the prosecution, Sziky promised another HUF 40 million in bribes to the director of the financial institution if they could buy back the properties below the purchase price.
The Kecskemét District Court acquitted the three defendants in 2018, saying the wiretapping materials could not be used in the Kiss and Gellért case because their preparation was ordered against Sziky, in another criminal case. According to the court, by excluding the material from the wiretaps, it can only be proved that Sziky took more than 40 million Kis.
Last year, the Criminal Chamber of the Kecskemét Court annulled the acquittal and ordered a new procedure, stating that the wiretapping material approved by the court could be used for people other than Gyula Sziky.
The case was referred to the Szeged Court of Appeal, where it was decided that a new procedure was not necessary, since the court of first instance was already fully proven, a final decision had to be made in second instance. Therefore, the case was returned to the council that issued the annulled order.
The 3-member Judicial Council has now acquitted the defendants because, although the wiretapping materials can be used, their guilt cannot be established beyond a reasonable doubt, so it dropped the charge in the absence of evidence.
Therefore, acquitted persons can also sue the state for damages during the months spent in pretrial detention.
Szilárd Kiss had a joint venture with Lőrinc Mészáros in Russia and was trapped at the national security checkpoint. The investigation against him had been closed for 2 years, which began because thousands of Russians, including figures from the underworld, had received Schengen visas at the consular section of the Moscow embassy. (24)
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