OMRI DAILY DIGEST
No. 15, 22 January 1997

HUNGARIAN COALITION PARTIES DENY INVOLVEMENT IN CORRUPTION. Following
revelations that large sums of state money were transferred to bank
accounts of companies closely linked with the two coalition parties (see
OMRI Daily Digest, 20 January 1997), Prime Minister Gyula Horn rejected
all allegations connecting his Socialist Party to corruption, Hungarian
dailies reported on 22 January. Reacting to the opposition Democratic
Forum's plans to initiate a no-confidence vote against the government in
parliament, Horn said the opposition was merely making desperate efforts
to bring down the cabinet. Both the Socialist Party and the Alliance of
Free Democrats denied receiving money from the implicated companies. The
investigation into the privatization scandal -- involving an unusually
large payment to a consultant, allegedly on conditions that part of the
money go to the two companies -- suggests the money was destined for
election coffers, but the scandal erupted before it actually reached the
parties' treasuries. -- Zsofia Szilagyi

[As of 12:00 CET]

Compiled by Tom Warner