Hungarian portal on "money waste": How billions from Budapest were spent in the Western Balkans through the Belgrade office
The Hungarian Export Development Agency (HEPA, formerly the Hungarian National Trading House) is not among the particularly prominent organizations in public view.
TL;DR
- HEPA, a Hungarian export development agency, is under scrutiny for questionable contract awards and decision-making.
- Regional partner offices, including one in Belgrade for the Western Balkans, were allegedly awarded through non-transparent tenders.
- Businessmen like Adnan Polat, a business partner of Orbán's son-in-law, and Karakas Suat Gokhan, a Polat associate, appear to have benefited significantly from HEPA contracts.
- A large grant intended for a hotel project in Karlovci was awarded to a company with ties to a former HEPA director, despite minimal Hungarian ownership remaining.
- HEPA's Brexit-related aid program was found by the State Audit Institution to have irregularities, with over 1.2 billion forints allegedly paid out unlawfully.
- The agency may have circumvented government approval thresholds for large legal contracts by splitting them into smaller, separate agreements.