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17th September, 2026
Gov’t complaints over contracts worth billions
The Ministry of Science and Technology is filing complaints over six cases involving Lounge Event and p2m Consulting, after audits uncovered alleged irregularities worth more than Ft 3 billion, Minister Zoltán Tanács said in a Facebook video on Wednesday.
According to Tanács, both companies operated under a similar model involving pre-selected providers, centralised procurement, single-bidder tenders, contracts designed to exhaust available budgets, unclear deliverables and difficult-to-justify prices.
Regarding p2m Consulting, Tanács said the company’s annual revenue had never exceeded Ft 200 million before 2019, but it secured a net Ft 30 billion framework agreement from the National Communications Authority at the end of 2020.
He compared the arrangement to the business model associated with Gyula Balásy, whose companies dominated state event and communications contracts.
The minister cited contracts in which senior executives and partners accounted for more than 86% of working hours while billing an average of over Ft 58,000 per hour.
Other documents allegedly lacked clear deliverables or evidence that work had been completed.
In Lounge Event’s case, Tanács highlighted Ft 1.8 million spent on board games for 45 employees, Ft 32 million on a Christmas event, Ft 37 million on a conference, and more than Ft 315,000 per hour for children’s programmes.
Tanács said the government has begun terminating such centralised contracts and would seek legal accountability.
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Sources regularly consulted, with abbreviations used in text: Népszabadság (N); Magyar Hírlap (MH); Világgazdaság (VG); Napi Gazdaság (NG); Magyar Nemzet (MN); Népszava (Nsz); Kossuth Rádió news (KR); nightly TV news (TV).
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