Simon: HZDS used public money for its campaign

Agriculture minister Zsolt Simon is filing a criminal complaint with the police after discovering that his predecessor Vladimir Chovan used public money to print the election campaign leaflets of his LS-HZDS party in May just before the elections.

The costs came to EUR 8,250 and the order came from the Food Research Institute, which falls under the Ministry of Agriculture. Minister Simon says that because the Ministry settled the costs the following month, it is something Chovan had to be aware of and consent to.

Simon attacked harshly these kinds of practices, not just of LS-HZDS and Chovan, but of the whole former government, adding that Chovan had run a political campaign for his party on taxpayers’ money.

The LS-HZDS party has rejected Simon’s accusations about the leaflets, saying it is all just a cheap attempt by the ruling coalition to draw attention away from the Hayek affair.

HZDS spokeswoman Sona Jantolakova said that the party would not comment on the issue until after a full investigation, as a criminal complaint had been lodged by minister Simon.