Ex-Fidesz MP gets HUF 2mn a page for consultancy document

The state media fund MTVA paid Fidesz MP-turned marketing man Attila Várhegyi over HUF 10mn for six months of work that yielded a five-page document, it emerged in a recent court case against atlatszo.hu.

The MTVA contracted Várhegyi-owned consultancy firm Prestige Média for “marketing communication support” from January to July 2012. The contract itself was signed on 16 January, the second day of the contract period, and the sole physical artifact from the six-month business arrangement (presuming the MTVA representatives told the truth in the courtroom) was a five-page list of potential public-sector and NGO partners and generic information about barter advertising deals, “Appearing in the public service media means becoming a part of people’s daily lives,” the document asserts. The cost of this document to the taxpayer: Ft 10,259,500 (ca. 30,000 euro).

The MTVA is legally obliged to publish data on the previous year’s consultancy contracts and information on their fulfillment, according to the court verdict. As the MTVA testified they had published everything they had received from Prestige on their website, this means that every last penny (or forint, in this case) of public funds for the six-month marketing strategy overview was successfully spent on one barter strategy. Everything else mentioned in the certificates of completion (advice, concepts, planning, targeting, revisions) must have meant non-written material.

The original Hungarian language article was posted on 30 September 2013. Translated by atlatszo.hu volunteers, edited by Dan Nolan.