District VI official detained on corruption charge

Kálmán Farkas, the head of the public area services department of the District VI government, has been detained by police on fraud charges, index.hu writes, based on a print report in daily Magyar Hírlap.

According to the report, Farkas is suspected of having accepted between Ft 500,000 and Ft 800,000 per month in exchange for helping to ensure that as many cars were booted in the district as possible. This was said to be to the benefit of Centrum Parkoló Kft, a firm the local government has contracted to collect parking fines levied in the district.

Farkas was questioned as a suspect on August 10, Budapest Prosecutor's Office Spokesperson Gabriella Skoda confirmed. He is suspected of having taken the improper payments each month during 2008 as well as this year, and the amount varied depending on the number of boots clamped on cars during the previous month. It is also suspected that Farkas passed on payments to his colleagues, to encourage them to boot cars more regularly.

The Prosecutor's Office said that Farkas had been caught while committing a crime.

• Email
• Save to My Caboodle