Csányi Blackmailers Get Suspended Sentences In Hungary

  • 12 Nov 2010 12:00 AM
Csányi Blackmailers Get Suspended Sentences In Hungary
"Pest Central District Court on Thursday handed down suspended prison sentences and imposed fines on three men for blackmailing OTP chairman Sándor Csányi in 2007. The three had threatened to make public a tax audit pertaining to the construction of the Bank Center in downtown Budapest, which they claimed would be embarrassing for Csányi.

The judge noted that Csányi was escorted by bodyguards for several days after receiving the e-mailed threats. He added that the case could have harmed not only OTP but the entire Hungarian economy.

The primary suspect sent messages and supplements to Csányi from three different internet cafés in November and December 2007 demanding €50 million from him. He included a long list of names to whom the supposedly damaging documents would be sent, such as senior officials of Hungarian public life and the EU.

For his crime he was given an 18-month suspended sentence and a Ft 300,000 fine.

A second defendant was sentenced to a two-year prison term, suspended for three years, for attempted blackmail and firearms offences, and was fined Ft 600,000.

The third defendant whose name was not mentioned was given a 14-month prison term, suspended for three years and fined Ft 500,000 as an accomplice to attempted blackmail."

Source: Hungary Around the Clock

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