Tax authority chief admits being US ban

Left-wing commentators accuse the government of having lied for two weeks by claiming not to know if the President of the Tax Authority was one of the six Hungarians banned from entering the United States, on suspicion of corruption. A leading politician reiterates that Mrs Vida never informed the cabinet.

In an interview with Magyar Nemzet, Mrs Ildikó Vida, President of the Tax Authority said she was banned from entering the United States and did “inform a member of the Cabinet” about the letter she had received from the US Embassy. (Ministers and state secretaries are equally considered as Cabinet members in Hungary.) Opposition parties have demanded her resignation in unison.

In HVG, Árpád W. Tóta argues that if Mrs Vida has been silent for two weeks, she must have had something to hide. He finds it absurd that the President of the Tax Authority should launch an investigation into the alleged corruption charges she is suspected of being involved in.

In its front page editorial, Népszabadság thinks it would be logical for Mrs Vida to resign, nevertheless the left wing daily would prefer the country’s leaders to quit, since the suspicion of corruption expressed in the entry bans imposed by the US on six Hungarian citizens is only one reason of many which concern America’s leaders about Hungary.

In a lengthy analysis on the latest developments, Népszava asserts that the government as a whole has been proved lying, since its key representatives have claimed for two weeks not to know if Mrs Vida was among the personalities banned from entering the United States. Now that she has told Magyar Nemzet that she had immediately informed a member of the cabinet, she might “drag the government with her into the abyss”.

On Pesti Srácok, State Secretary László L. Simon reasserts that the cabinet had not been informed. The State Secretary who is practically the political deputy of the Minister in charge of the Prime Minister’s office, calls upon Mrs Vida to disclose the letter in which she informed a member of the Cabinet about the matter.

Tags: corruption, taxes, US