There are serious problems with the current Hungarian wealth declarations system
László Varju’s declarations show almost nothing of his real wealth
In April, László Varju, vice president of the left-wing opposition party Democratic Coalition, shared a hostel’s photo on his Facebook page. The photo showed the cosy poolside apartments of the hostel, located in Taksony, in the southern outskirts of Budapest. The first comment on Varju’s Facebook post came from a former prominent left-wing politician
I did not see this cute little lodge in your wealth declarations
Varju later said that the joke made him sad but according to him
the hostel is owned by Varju and his family
and it is indeed missing from his yearly wealth declarations
He does not have to declare it because Varju does not own the hotel directly but via a company
Varju appears almost penniless: he drives a rented car
this is not the full picture of his assets
Varju fully or partially owns several companies
together with annual revenues worth tens of millions of forints
Varju’s real wealth is hidden not only because of the shortcomings of the wealth declaration system
He also failed to declare some of his business interests
he filed incomplete declarations multiple times
He omitted three companies from his filings several times: one was not declared 6 times
His declarations were incomplete even in the two years when he was a state minister in the final years of the left-wing government that was voted out of power in 2010
László Varju admitted the errors to Direkt36
that his wealth declarations did not give a false image of his wealth because anybody could look into his companies’ matters in public databases
is a vice president of the Democratic Coalition Party (led by former prime minister Ferenc Gyurcsány)
Varju was among the founders of the Hungarian Socialist Party (MSZP)
and he has been a member of parliament since 2002
under the Gyurcsány and Bajnai administrations between 2008-2010
as state secretary of the Ministry for National Economy and Development (NFGM)
László Varju followed Ferenc Gyurcsány to the new party DK (source: Varju László Facebook)
According to his latest wealth declaration
His savings are under 10 million HUF (approximately 32.000 euro) yet he has 8 million HUF (around 25.700 euro) debt
his wealth has never been considerably bigger
Varju lives in the second district of Budapest
László Varju showed the 2015 wealth declarations of his wife and two children to Direkt36
These documents are very similar to Varju’s: these forms are almost entirely blank
Varju’s wife indicated the home of the family
but otherwise does not have significant assets or savings
The hostel is the property of the politicians’ family company called Varju Ltd
Varju used to organize events here for his fellow party members
The company owning the hostel is one among the six businesses that Varju included in his wealth declarations
but he states that he does not earn money from any of these
and that his only source of income is his salary as an MP (currently 748,000 HUF
The last time he had some income from Varju Ltd
Most of the companies he is involved in are not in the position to pay dividends
but all the profit is spent on the company so that it can maintain stability
The company owns four properties: in addition to the Taksony hostel’s two parcels
it owns two apartments near Lake Balaton (in Balatonőszöd)
and it also has an office in the centre of Budapest (sixth district
The company’s assets are worth 93 million HUF (300.000 euro) in total
according to the company’s business reports
the asset list includes a swimming pool and a Volvo
bought in 2009 for 5 million HUF (16.000 euro)
The Taksony hostel is officially run by another family company
Varju is the majority owner and his wife is the company manager
This firm makes millions of forints each year
which have been spent on the refurbishment
air-conditioning and furnishing of the Taksony buildings
the renovation of the pool and it also paid for an LCD TV set bought in 2010
the politician’s wife and his daughter earn 200.000 HUF (around 650 euro) each from the Varju Ltd
this is the other main source of their family’s income apart from his salary as an MP
Varju said they never wanted to get huge bank loans and did not get money from development funds
so Taksony is basically a youth hostel today and it “is a miracle that it runs at all.”
The address of the Taksony hostel also serves as the seat of a third company
the company made tens of millions forints in revenues
Among its assets are IBM servers worth 7.5 million HUF (24.000 euro) and a BMW bought in 2010 for 7 million HUF (22.500 euro)
Varju personally did not have an income as CEO or owner
The three companies mentioned above were regularly included in Varju’s wealth declarations
Yet there were three others that he failed to declare accurately in his filings for years
which was not indicated in Varju’s declarations until January 2011
even though he has been a partial owner since 1994
The company is an active insurance firm with 9.6 million HUF (30.800 euro) income in 2015
Varju claims not to have gained any income from the firm
The case is similar with the accounting firm Siva.hu Ltd.: Varju has officially been a 75-percent owner of the company since 2001
yet he failed to include it in his declarations among 2007 and 2014
even though he was its CEO until December that year
which is an inactive company with massive debts
This means he omitted it in three declarations
László Varju said to Direkt36 that the mistakes were because of his carelessness
and that he “did not have much to do” with the companies’ activities and that “what happened to them did not have much result.” He realized his mistakes after a media article in 2014
and decided to “clear the situation” and include everything
The errors were corrected in his latest declarations
and he apologized for it “in his own party as well,” he said
“So that I do not feel awkward when being questioned,” he added
The article was written in contribution with Bálint Fabók of Direkt36
For information on companies, we used the databases of Ceginfo and Opten
In collaboration with
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either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter
or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources
Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content
A father and daughter's fishing trip almost ended in disaster after the pair nearly drowned at sea
On Sunday morning the pair were on their way back to Kahului Harbor from Hana after a successful expedition
Moreau accidentally fell asleep while the boat was on autopilot as his daughter slept
Moreau spoke to HawaiiNewsNow and explained the near-death experience
He said: "I sat down because I was tired and the next thing I know I was sleeping
Moreau Taksony explained how the situation quickly became dire as the boat began to sink
this is Maile.' Then the boat went under and he went under with the boat
Moreau Taksony lost sight of her father at this point and believed he had gotten himself trapped underneath the vessel
She continued: "You see those movies where people are trying to save those people underwater and they can barely get to them
and I had that feeling because I went down and I couldn't see him."
She then dove under the water and was able to heave back to the surface
the pair now faced a second problem as they were stranded in the ocean
Moreau Taksony said she was aware of the situation they found themselves in and the importance of getting to shore
She added: "I look at the shoreline and [I see] crashing huge rocks
"I held him and I went on my back just like a lifeguard
just pulling and swimming with my head up and taking deep breath
'Don't let the water go in your mouth' because that's what was happening
So that was the point when we were trying to get in
I had that moment of wow we may not make it."
Moreau Taksony said it took the pair over an hour to swim to the rocky shoreline
They then faced another obstacle as they were stranded at the bottom of a giant cliff
Moreau Taksony was able to eventually climb to the top thanks to ropes left alongside it
She said: "Thank God and all His angels for those wonderful fishermen who put out ropes
Moreau Taksony was able to climb the cliffside safely and find some people who could then call 911
The Maui Fire Department was able to pick up Moreau from the bottom of the cliff and take him to the hospital in a helicopter
The pair say they are happy to be alive and are grateful to their community and hope their story will be shared so others don't make their mistake
Moreau walked away from the incident with only a few bruises and issued a warning to others and said: "We have to learn from this
"There should always be at least one person not sleeping and if you are that tired
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Teachers and students from the Department of Chinese Studies at Hungary's Lorand Eotvos University visit a construction site of the Hungary-Serbia railway project in Taksony
A group of students and teachers were invited to an open day event of the Budapest-Belgrade railway here on Thursday
(China Railway Hungary-Serbia Railway Project Management via Xinhua)
30 (Xinhua) -- A group of students and teachers were invited to an open day event of the Budapest-Belgrade railway here on Thursday
The 28 visitors from the Department of Chinese Studies at Hungary's Lorand Eotvos University started their tour in Taksony
Experts from the Hungary-Serbia railway project team presented an overview of the Hungarian section of the planned railway line and showcased several specialized equipment
to the teachers and students at the Hungary-Serbia Railway Product Laboratory
Li Yadan of the project management team said that the open day event aimed to demonstrate the intricacies of the railway's construction to the local community
He said similar events will be organized in the future to further enlighten the community about the project's development
The Budapest-Belgrade railway is a flagship project of China's Belt and Road Initiative
The railway line will span almost 350 km and will reduce travel time between the two cities from eight hours to approximately 3.5 hours
Teachers and students from the Department of Chinese Studies at Hungary's Lorand Eotvos University visit the Hungary-Serbia Railway Products Laboratory in Budapest
A construction site of the Hungary-Serbia railway project in Taksony station
Norbert Csizmadia Photo: Courtesy of Csizmadia
Tesfaye Hailemicheal and his colleagues have settled in the new headquarters of the Africa Centers for Disease Control ..
This year marks the 10th anniversary of the proposal of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)
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Acting Mayor Keith Regan issued an emergency proclamation today
declaring that the county needed to remove more than 400 dead eucalyptus trees in the county owned rights of way along Piʻiholo Road before any more falling trees cause property damage
Upper Piiholo 1/3/15 – File Image: Jamee Taksony Jones
The proclamation was officially transmitted to Council Services today after Regan met with Council Chair Mike White
Council Chair White agreed that the county should act immediately to protect residents and travelers in the area before the weather gets worse this season
“Mayor Arakawa said before he left for his vacation last week that this situation needs to be addressed and if we have to declare and emergency to get the funds
which will further soften the ground so we need to move quickly.”
“Safety of our community is a top priority and with the hazards posed by the falling trees
swift action is needed,” said Council Chair Mike White
“I appreciate the diligent work of the Administration and their efforts in mobilizing to address this issue.”
Piʻiholo residents have reported large eucalyptus trees falling whenever high winds or heavy rains affect the area
The county removed 20 trees from the area earlier this year after a 70 foot eucalyptus fell on a Makawao man’s truck in April
That particular tree fell from private property and not county property
The emergency proclamation declares that the “dead trees pose an imminent danger of death
injury and property damage to the residents of Maui County
which warrants preemptive and protective action.”
The exact amount of emergency funding needed for tree removal work has not yet been specified
however a budget amendment for $1 million will be transmitted to the council for this project this week
Grumpy Monkey Budapest1134 Budapest, Taksony utca 7 FacebookOpen: Mon-Fri 8am-4pm
Famagusta Gazette
workers at the construction site of Taksony Station were installing platform canopies and overhead contact wires on Wednesday
completing the final stages of the Hungarian segment of the Budapest-Belgrade Railway
the Budapest-Belgrade railway stands as a flagship project under the Belt and Road Initiative
With the completion of major structural components such as embankments
the project has now entered its final stages
with the Hungarian section set to be completed by 2025
At the newly constructed Dunavarsany Traction Substation
located a short drive from Taksony Station
and a 25kV overhead feeder line are ready to power the railway’s electrified network
This achievement is the result of collaboration between Chinese and Hungarian teams in addressing challenges such as aligning international technical standards
“We worked closely with Hungarian State Railways and Chinese suppliers to meet EU and Hungarian certifications for critical components
including signaling equipment and traction transformers,” said Liu Tianqi
a deputy manager in charge of the electrified network of the project
“This ensures stable and efficient railway operations.”
environmental sustainability and cultural preservation have taken center stage during the construction
China Railway Group Limited (CREC) implemented EU-compliant measures to minimize environmental impacts along the route
Water-spraying vehicles operate hourly to reduce dust pollution during construction
located 20 km south of the capital city of Budapest
was originally built in the 1930s and holds cultural significance for locals
CREC has made it a priority to restore the station to its “former glory.”
“We conducted extensive research into the station’s historical records,” said Song Ziwen
a general manager at the Budapest-Belgrade railway project
“By using materials and techniques consistent with the original architectural style
we preserved the station’s historical character while infusing it with new vitality,” Song added
by creating numerous jobs and giving full play of Hungarian expertise and technical skills
the project stands as an example of China-Hungary cooperation and a testament to a true win-win partnership
another general manager at the Budapest-Belgrade railway project
who has worked for CREC for three years thanks to her knowledge of Chinese
said the project has given her opportunities
the railway will make travel more convenient and boost economic development along the route
I’m looking forward to taking the first train,”
the railway is poised to redefine connectivity between Budapest and Belgrade
slashing travel time from eight hours to three
It promises a profound impact on regional mobility and economic growth
Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto has hailed the railway as “the largest and most complex rail development in Hungary’s history,” emphasizing its role in strengthening ties between East and West amid global challenges
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