Budapest ex-deputy mayor given suspended sentence for mismanagement

A Hungarian court on Tuesday handed down a two-year suspended sentence to Budapest's former Socialist deputy mayor Miklos Hagyo on the grounds of mismanagement of the Budapest Transport Company by him.

The decision by the District Court of Kecskemet, about 85 km southeast of Budapest, followed nearly six years of investigation and delays after Hagyo and 14 other people were accused of deliberate mismanagement resulting in one billion forints (nearly 3.5 million dollars) in damages to the company that runs all of Budapest's public transport.

The Kecskemet court issued suspended sentences to six defendants, fined another three, and declared that six others were not guilty.

Hagyo, 48, was arrested in May 2010. He was held in preliminary detention until February 2011 and under house arrest until June 2011. At that time he was released on his own recognizance.

Though the case was within the jurisdiction of the Budapest court, the Tunde Hando, chief of the National Court Bureau ordered that the case be tried in Kecskemet.

The Kecskemet court began hearing the case in mid-2012 but in December 2013 it declared that it did not have jurisdiction and turned the case over to Budapest.

The Supreme Court intervened and returned the case to Kecskemet, which has been trying it since July 2014.

The Kecskemet court issued a primary verdict which can be appealed by both prosecution and defense. Endit