Date=9/27/94
type=correspondent report
number=2-165838
title=Hungary privatization (l)
byline=Stefan Bos
dateline=Budapest
content=

voiced at:

// reissue with correct cr number //

Intro:  Hungarian authorities are launching an investigation into
allegations that the previous center-right government is guilty
of corruption and financial wrong-doing.  The charges center on
the former government's program to privatize state-owned
enterprises.  Stefan Bos reports from Budapest.

Text:  Prime minister Gyula Horn told parliament a special
government commissioner and officials of the interior ministry
will conduct the investigation.  Mr. Horn said the Hungarian
people have a right to know whether their trust in government was
abused.

Mr. Horn says the former center-right government issued more than
two-thousand secret decrees ordering the redistribution of an
estimated 150-million dollars and state-owned properties to
non-governmental organizations.

The prime minister charged that certain privileged people were
allowed to purchase state-owned land and property, while
privatization experts and directors close to the government
received millions of dollars in taxpayers' money.

Mr. Horn said the policy increased Hungary's foreign debt, and
added to the growing budget deficit.

Leaders of the political parties that formed part of the
coalition have strongly denied the prime minister's accusations.

In his speech, Mr. Horn said his government is seeking to ease
the burden of low-income Hungarians by increasing pensions,
giving more state assistance to families and improving health
care.

He blamed the spreading poverty on the policies of the former
government, Hungary's first democratically-elected administration
after four decades of communism.

Mr. Horn said the money spent on the privatization program could
have been better used in providing health care and financial aid
for the estimated four million Hungarians who live below the
poverty level. (Signed)
neb/sb/skh/lwm

27-Sep-94 2:14 pm edt (1814 utc)
nnnn

source: Voice of America.

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A tovabbterjesztest a New York-i szekhelyu Magyar Emberi Jogok
Alapitvany tamogatja.

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Reposting is supported by Hungarian Human Rights Foundation News
and Information Service.
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