24.hu has learned that the prosecution reached an agreement with a key player in the criminal proceedings against György Schadl, former State Secretary of Justice Pál Völner, and their associates.
According to the indictment obtained by this newspaper, Schadl entrusted one of his confidants with documenting the money transfers, including bribe payments, among others. The employee, officially nominated as an executor but who actually works as a financial officer, will not appear as a defendant in the proceedings, but only as a witness. During the course of the investigation, in several sessions the female individual submitted 90 pages of testimony, which is likely cause for worry to her former boss, Schadl, who was taken into custody more than a year ago.
The woman reached an agreement with the Prosecutor’s Office stipulated in the Criminal Procedure Act, where no criminal proceedings will be initiated against that perpetrator, or that the ongoing proceedings will be terminated, if he/she provides information and evidence related to the investigation and evidence of the case or another criminal case, and the significance of the national security or law enforcement interest achieved via the agreement is greater than the interest related to the criminal prosecution of the perpetrator.
The proceedings encompass 22 defendants, including – as reported by us earlier – Schadl’s father and his wife. According to the indictment, Schadl obtained HUF 924,852,000 in illegal income through his corrupt relationship with Pál Völner. Schadl received nearly HUF 1 billion forints in kickbacks from independent court bailiffs appointed at his request, while he regularly handed over money as an illegal benefit, essentially as a salary – a total of at least HUF 83 million forints until July 2021 – to the Fidesz politician exercising his influence to serve Schadl’s interests.
Based on the indictment, Schadl paid the bribes to the Deputy Minister partly from sums stored in his bailiff’s office and partly at his place of residence. According to the prosecutor’s office, he entrusted the management of the cash kept in the safe in his office, as well as the documentation of the amounts withdrawn and deposited from it, to the executor-designate working as a financial officer, who entered into a plea deal with the Prosecutor’s Office. Besides the co-worker who also worked as an executor-designate, another individual who was Schadl’s driver and personal assistant was also authorized to handle the cash. He is the fourth defendant in the case, for whom the prosecution is recommending a prison sentence of two and a half years.
According to the indictment, these funds were either personally taken by Schadl or by his driver to the specified location, while the cash movements were recorded by the executor-designate working as a financial officer, and the sums were also recorded in two places, the “household fund” and “Monika’s balance” Excel spreadsheets.
According to the indictment, it was clear to the two confidants were also aware that Schadl was in a corrupt relationship with Pál Völner, who regularly received several million forint cash payments from the chairman of the executors regularly handed over several million HUF in cash from the chairman of executors. Furthermore, both of Schadl’s confidants regularly received cash from the independent bailiffs who were appointed to intercede with Schadl.
The prosecution is recommending 10 years’ incarceration for György Schadl, and eight years for Pál Völner if he pleads guilty, proposing fines of HUF 200 million for the former and HUF 25 million for the latter, as well as a 10-year ban from public affairs, permanent ban from occupations tied to a legal degree, and asset confiscation up to the extent of their unlawful enrichment.
Meanwhile, according to the office of Hungary’s State Prosecutor, Schadl had made calls to his wife and, through her, communicated with his father instructing him to place almost HUF 110 million worth of luxury watches and jewelry in a safe so that the authorities could not seize them. According to an indictment obtained by 24.hu, the State Prosecutor’s office also became aware of this, which is why Schadl’s wife and father are also being put on trial for money laundering.
During the criminal proceedings, authorities seized countless assets from Schadl and his wife, who also worked as a financial executor, in addition to a significant amount of cash, but according to the indictment, there were also some things that they tried to hide from investigators.
Authorities conducted a search in the married couple’s home in November 2021, just after they had been apprehended at Liszt Ferenc Airport, from where they intended to flee with diplomatic passports. During a search of their residence, jewelry and watches were found in a safe and other furnishings in the couple’s bedroom. At the time, investigators did not seize those items, as it was prohibited at that stage of the procedure. Operated by the National Standby Police, the Asset Recovery Office only began to seize that property at the end of November of this year.
From prison, Schadl had also heard about the valuables’ forthcoming seizure, as he was receiving information on such decisions.
Using a telephone provided to him at the time of his arrest, György Schadl asked his wife to communicate with his father, instructing him to rent a safe in a bank branch and place the watches and jewelry that had not yet been confiscated, as written in the indictment.
Schadl’s wife and father – knowing that the watches and jewelry originated from punishable criminal offenses – complied with the request, renting a safe deposit box in a bank branch on Béla Bartók Street where they placed the jewelry and luxury watches worth almost HUF 110 million. While the safe deposit box was rented out under Schadl’s father’s name, Schadl’s wife also had access. That act was committed so that the watches and jewelry could not be linked to Schadl himself, thus preventing their seizure.
However, after the prosecutor’s office found out what had happened, they brought charges against Schadl’s wife and father.
Both of them are accused of high-value money laundering, the former as a defendant in the 17th degree and the latter as a defendant in the 18th degree. The prosecutor’s office proposed that, in case of a guilty plea, the court should sentence György Schadl’s wife to two years in prison, five years of probation, and a fine of HUF 50 million. The prosecutor’s office requested the same sentence for Schadl’s father, but with a monetary fine of only HUF 5 million as a secondary punishment.
Above and beyond the jewelry and watches worth almost HUF 110 million hidden in the safe by the Schadls, the authorities also seized other significant assets from the president of the Hungarian Courts’ Executive Faculty. These include:
- over HUF 10 million in cash;
- a Breguet brand wristwatch worth HUF 7.5 million;
- frozen assets of HUF 174.5 million on Schadl’s bank account;
- business interests of his joint company with his wife;
- eight flats in downtown Budapest;
- four houses in Hungary’s countryside, one of which is a cottage on Lake Balaton;
- three shop spaces in Budapest;
- two cellar spaces; and
- a plot of land in Szentendre.
A high-profile case, the essence of the indictment is that Schadl established a corrupt relationship with Pál Völner before May 2018. In part, Schadl peddled influence by regularly giving pay-outs – a total of at least HUF 83 million up until July 2021 – to the Fidesz politician who therefore exercised his position’s influence as State Secretary and Deputy Minister in accordance with Schadl’s interests.
Citing the influence resulting from his leadership position and his corrupt relationship with Völner, the Prosecutor’s Office says Schadl agreed in advance that he would secure independent court bailiff positions for his seven colleagues, in return for which he demanded some or all of the proceeds due to them from the operation of their bailiff offices. Via this, according to the indictment, he obtained the illegal compensation.
