First degree victory in fraudulent medical company’s FOIA case

Atlatszo.hu filed a freedom of information request to the National Development Agency (NFÜ) to get the documents of the Agency’s investigation against a fraudulent medical company. During the case the Agency partly fulfilled our request but in its first degree verdict the Budapest Tribunal Court judged in our favour. According to the verdict we obtained the requested documents, except NFÜ’s methodology of investigating tender frauds.

“A strange medical centre drew the attention of the National Tax and Customs Administration (NAV) and MAG Zrt, a company which investigates on behalf of the National Development Agency. The Csepel-based Body-Map Kft. has won 215 million forints on an EU tender two years ago with an application in which the self-financer was an offshore company and they spent a significantly higher sum on machines than their normal prices. According to experts overpricing is an often used type of fraud in tenders and NAV has just started a second investigation against the company this year. Body Map is connected to its supplier company Medical Devices in familiar relations. Neither the company nor the authorities provided information about the running investigation or the company’s procedures, but our investigations has shown that the Seychelles-islands based self-financer company’s registered proprietor is Miklós András Sümegi, former ambulance doctor and entrepreneur and founder of Body Map. We’ve also seen that the medical centre hired practitioners of alternative medicine by claiming they are doctors. As we can find doctors and medical assistants in Body Map’s staff as well, so-called ‘parabolical doctors’ are working for them too. ‘Parabolical doctors’ can get their special ‘Dr title at Hu-Man Medica which provides ‘acknowledged excellence’ for 250000 HUF and some kind of tests.” – ‘Parabolical doctors’ hired by EU tender winning medical company

Read the full article and documents here (Hungarian)