Hungary's Interior Ministry Downplays Report

  • 18 Sep 2014 9:00 AM
Hungary's Interior Ministry Downplays Report
Authorities have initiated 1,200 criminal proceedings against foreign citizens who have tried to obtain Hungarian citizenship and passports with forged documents and by bribing officials since simplified citizenship was introduced in July 2011, Interior Ministry press chief Attila Samu told Népszabadság on Wednesday.

He said the secret services, the Defence Service, the Immigration and Citizenship Office and police have continuously been monitoring the process of obtaining simplified citizenship from the beginning.

Samu said nothing indicates that gangs have been engaged in such a business in Hungary. The Index journalist who wrote the article has generalised his personal experiences and what he had heard, as the number of abuses are highly exaggerated, Samu said, because there have been no mass applications for citizenship from Russia and Ukraine, contrary to the article’s assertions.

Source: Hungary Around the Clock

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