OMRI DAILY DIGEST
No. 234, 5 December 1996
DEATH THREATS ACCOMPANY INVESTIGATION INTO HUNGARIAN PRIVATIZATION
SCANDAL. Tamas Deutsch, a member of the opposition Young Democrats and
chairman of the parliamentary commission investigating the recent
privatization scandal, said he and his family have received death
threats, Hungarian dailies reported on 5 December. In a related
development, Marta Tocsik--the lawyer at the center of the scandal, who
earlier this year received a record-high consultancy fee under an
illegal contract with the State Privatization Agency--has been sent a
two-page handwritten death threat from the self-proclaimed "Justice-
Delivering Death Brigade." Tocsik's defense attorney has also received
death threats. -- Zsofia Szilagyi
[As of 12:00 CET]
Compiled by Jan Cleave
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OMRI DAILY DIGEST
No. 235, 6 December 1996
HUNGARY TO GET WORLD BANK LOAN FOR PUBLIC FINANCE REFORM. The World
Bank
on 5 December approved a $7.75 million credit to support the country's
public finance reform, Hungarian media reported. The loan will cover 72%
of the costs of the four-year project and will be used primarily for
information technology development. Vilaggazdasag reported that the
World Bank is expected to grant two more loans worth $200-250 million
each later this year. One of those credits will be used to assist
enterprise privatization and the other to alleviate the crisis in the
country's social security system. Since gaining membership in 1982,
Hungary has received credits totaling $3.7 billion from the World Bank.
-- Zsofia Szilagyi
HUNGARY TO EXTEND TECHNICAL UNIT'S MANDATE IN BOSNIA. The government
wants to extend for one more year the Hungarian troops' participation in
the Bosnian peace implementation force, Reuters reported on 5 December.
Hungary has a 400-strong technical unit in the former Yugoslavia and has
provided the U.S. army with logistics bases on Hungarian territory near
the Croatian border. Mandates for both commitments are due to run out at
the end of 1996. The government on 5 December said it will ask
permission from the parliament to extend the two mandates to the end of
1997. -- Zsofia Szilagyi
ROMANIA'S RULING ALLIANCE ELECTS NEW LEADER. The Democratic Convention
of Romania (CDR) on 5 December elected Ion Diaconescu as its leader,
Romanian media reported. The 78-year-old Diaconescu spent 17 years in
jail during the communist period. He is chairman of the National Peasant
Party--Christian Democratic, the leading member of the CDR. Diaconescu
replaces Emil Constantinescu, who resigned after his election as
Romania's president last month. The CDR won the November parliamentary
elections and is currently forming a coalition government with the
Social Democratic Union of former Premier Petre Roman and the Hungarian
Democratic Federation of Romania. -- Dan Ionescu
[As of 12:00 CET]
Compiled by Jan Cleave
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