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LMP SUSPECTS GRAFT AROUND SALE OF MICROSOFT PRODUCTS TO STATE CLIENTS

Green opposition LMP has said it will file a criminal complaint for abuse of office and misappropriation of funds over what it suspects is corruption surrounding the sale of Microsoft products to state institutions. Speaking at a press conference on Monday, Gábor Vágó, a spokesman for the party, said the US software giant had first sold its products to intermediary companies at substantially discounted prices, after which those companies sold them to state institutions at their full prices or at even higher ones.

“While in Romania, ministers were taken away in handcuffs for the exact same thing, in Hungary, company leaders who were fired over this scandal have ended up at the Prime Minister’s Office,” Vágó said, adding that the FBI has launched an investigation into the case.

Vágó said he did not expect the chief public prosecutor’s office headed by Péter Polt to “do much” about the case, but voiced hope that since the statute of limitations on corruption crimes is 12 years, an investigation into the matter will be possible in the future.