This is what Atlatszo reported last week

János Hiszem, a key Hungarian figure connected to the Azerbaijani Laundromat scandal, is one of the big beneficiaries of the epidemic business: his company supplies € 79 million worth of ventilators and other medical equipment under a contract with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Hungary. 

A six-part report in the Magyar Nemzet political daily, characterised as ‘investigative’ and presented with great uproar in allied media, could be just another day at the office. But the quality of the report is that of a kompromat, severely falling short of the however lowly regular standars of the Fidesz-friendly propaganda machinery. Events surrounding the report show a strong similarity with a 2018 incident where foreign elements meddled in the Hungarian political sphere. Magyar Nemzet’s ‘investigation’ seems to be the latest scene in the hidden conflict between Viktor Orbán’s spin doctors and the national intelligence community.

The civil society organization “Everyone for Pécs” filed a request for documents to the now opposition-led local government regarding a questionable street lighting modernization project that took place in Pécs in 2015. These documents help shed light on how Elios Zrt., a company which was owned by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s son in law, István Tiborcz, was able to win the nearly €2.5 million public procurement.

Péter Gerner has been entrusted with executive tasks by atlatszo.hu Közhasznú Nonprofit Kft., the publisher of the Átlátszó investigative journalism platform in Budapest, Hungary.