Portik-Laborc Debate Escalates In Hungary

  • 2 May 2013 9:00 AM
Portik-Laborc Debate Escalates In Hungary
The Portik-Laborc affair is a moral, rather than a political issue, said Prime Minister Viktor Orban yesterday, adding that he will be following the work of Parliament's national security committee in relation to the matter.

Fidesz communications director Mate Kocsis called for former prime minister Ferenc Gyurcsany and his secret services minister Gyorgy Szilvasy to be heard by the national security committee, as he believes Laborc was acting on instructions from above.

Gyurcsany wrote on his Facebook page that he is ready to take part in a hearing but the committee will not be happy about what it will hear.

Szilvasy cautioned that judgement should be withheld regarding the authenticity of the transcript until the recording and transcript are released in their entirety.

Zsolt Molnar, Socialist chairman of the national security committee, said his party supports LMP’s Benedek Javor’s proposal to convene a special session of Parliament over the Portik-Laborc meeting, and is proposing that the original recordings be played to the national security committee to dispel any doubts as to their authenticity.

Kocsis said the Fidesz caucus will decide at a later date whether to convene a special session of Parliament.

Laborc claims he does not remember the conversation with Portik, in which he allegedly enlisted the underworld figure’s help in discrediting opposition politicians.

He added that he is prepared to take legal action to have the full recording made public.

In a related development Laborc recently won a lawsuit against the weekly Heti Valasz after he sued the print and online editions because they claimed that he had asked Portik at their meetings to “collect or fabricate” incriminating data on leading Fidesz politicians.

Laborc also filed a criminal report on the same grounds.

Source: Hungary Around the Clock

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