News portal index.hu reported on Tuesday that a large-scale mafia network has been set up which is specialising in obtaining Hungarian citizenship with false documents by abusing the 2010 law that enabled ethnic Hungarians abroad to obtain citizenship in a fast-track procedure.

The network has so far obtained Hungarian citizenship and Hungarian passport for several tens of thousands of non-EU, mostly Russian and Ukrainian, citizens charging them between 5,000 and 30,000 euros, the portal said. It said that several Ukrainian gangs and Hungarian law offices have also become specialised in the “Hungarian citizenship business.”

garian passport allows visafree travel to other EU member states. Semjén, a sponsor of the 2010 law, told MTI that anyone aware of any case of abuse must report that to authorities.

He said that in cases when the system had been abused or attempts had been made perpetrators had been arrested. In response to the web portal’s report, the opposition Socialists called for the dismissal of Semjén.

They also initiated convening parliament’s national cohesion committee and proposed that the national security committee should investigate the issue to reveal abuses.

The leftist opposition Democratic Coalition proposed a joint session of parliament’s law enforcement and national security committees to review the procedure of granting Hungarian citizenship.

Source www.hungarymatters.hu

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Large-Scale Hungarian Citizenship Scam Reported

MTI photo: Nyikos Péter