András Kósa, Senior Associate of Radio Free Europe Hungary, and his mentee Zsuzsanna Fritz have jointly come out on top in Transparency International (TI) Hungary’s 12th Mentor-Mentee Program on Investigative Journalism. The winning pair took a closer look on an agricultural logistics centre built using EU and state funds in the city of Bonyhád, Tolna. As the authors uncovered, the depot was originally intended to help local farmers and their families to access the market, but was taken over by the billion-forint company of the president of the Tolna County Chamber of Commerce and Industry. At the closing ceremony on Tuesday 19 November, after the remarks of the representatives of the supporting Embassies of the program, the mentors and mentees were interviewed, followed by the giving-away of certificates, and revealing the winner pair. 

Once again, the Embassy of Finland in Budapest hosted the closing ceremony of TI Hungary’s 12th Mentor-Mentee Program on Investigative Journalism, which also included an awardgiving ceremony. The event was attended by József Péter Martin, Executive Director of TI Hungary, and representatives of the embassies supporting this year’s Mentor-Mentee Program. In their welcoming speeches, the speakers – Ambassador Pertti Anttinen of the Embassy of Finland in Budapest, Diana Madunic, Ambassador of Sweden in Budapest, Jonathan Lacôte, Ambassador of France in Budapest and Anne Myrjord, Chargé d’Affaires of the Royal Embassy of Norway in Budapest – highlighted the importance of free and independent journalism. In addition to the speakers, the event was also graced by the presence of Jeroen Vergeylen, Ambassador of Belgium to Budapest and François Lafrenière, Ambassador of Canada to Budapest. 

Ambassador Pertti Anttinen photo by Gábor Lakos

József Péter Martin, Executive Director of TI Hungary photo by Gábor Lakos

Jonathan Lacôte, Ambassador of France in Budapest, photo by Gábor Lakos

Diana Madunic, Ambassador of Sweden in Budapest, photo by Gábor Lakos

Anne Myrjord, Chargé d’Affaires of the Royal Embassy of Norway in Budapest photo by Gábor Lakos

Following the welcoming speeches, Dénes Marcell Jávor, Communications Manager of TI Hungary, interviewed the mentor-mentee pairs about their articles produced in the framework of this year’s 12th Mentor-Mentee Program on Investigative Journalism. 

Renáta Drávucz and her mentor, Ágnes Lampé photo by Gábor Lakos

The social and economic tensions partly caused by short-term rental services such as Airbnb, as well as the regulatory anomalies and political battles surrounding this service were examined in a joint article by Szabad Europa’s external  associate Ágnes Lampé and her mentee Renáta Drávucz. As they investigated, the discourse around the service has been increasingly heated and heated for years since the relevant law was passed back in 2020. Among other reasons, according to the authors, because in recent years, the local governments of Budapest’s districts, with two exceptions, districts V and VI, have not put their legal mandate in action. According to the article, the short-term rentals targeting the tourists visiting the capital has led to a reduction in the number of properties available for housing, which in turn has led to a rise of prices and rents. In addition, the current legislation provides an option of misuse, as the relevant register, which should, at least in principle, require the registration of properties for short-term rental, could be easily bypassed. 

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Zsuzsanna Fritz and her mentor András Kósa photo by Gábor Lakos

An agricultural logistics centre was built in the outskirts of Bonyhád using 450 million forints (cca Є1 million) of EU funds, intented to be supporting the farmers living and producing in and around the Tolna settlement, revealed András Kósa, senior associaite of Szabad Európa, and his mentee Zsuzsanna Fritz in a joint article. However, the investment does not serve its original purpose: instead of the farmers in the area, the only beneficiary of the logistics centre is the company that won the contract to run the centre, Katmilk Kft., registered in Bonyhád, a company linked to the president of the Tolna County Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Zsolti Beréti. Yet, as the authors revealed, such centres to help local producers are needed to bring the products of small producers, who are undercapitalised and excluded from modern technologies, to the market. In contrast, the Bonyhád centre is not used by local producers, and some farmers are not even aware of its existence. The municipality of Bonyhád, when contacted, said that they believe that the investment, which was built using HUF 450 millions of EU funding, is functioning in order. 

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Róbert Nagy and his mentor, Antal Józing photo by Gábor Lakos

Since the NER was set up in 2010, it has become increasingly clear that it is good business to marry into the family of pro-government oligarchs. In the case of several actors, including István Tiborcz, Cecília Rogán-Szendrei, who recently changed her surname again, or László Szíjj, the Hungarian public has seen a good example of how those who have chosen their spouses well have become successful at an astonishing rate. However, as the article by Antal Józing, journalist and mentor of Nyugat.hu, and his mentee, Róbert Nagy investigated, Zsolt Homlok, who has local ties to the city of Szombathely and its rural areas, stands out from the crowd, having first got into the business of winning billion-forint contracts and only after his mainly railway construction company had grown up did he marry Ágnes Mészáros, the daughter of his main business partner, Lőrinc Mészáros. However, the business relationship, which spanned many years and tens and hundreds of billions of forints in public procurement, and was supplemented by direct family ties, deteriorated: the authors suggest that this was probably due to Zsolt Homlok’s growing frustration at remaining in the back to the gas fitter from Felcsút. After Homlok’s marriage fell apart and eventually ended in divorce with the daughter of the prime minister’s childhood friend, the businessman’s state contracts visibly dried up, and by the summer of 2024, the Szombathely football team Haladás, which was owned by the businessman, went bankrupt. 

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Ramóna Heszler and her mentor Dóra Ónody-Molnár photo by Gábor Lakos

In contrast to tangible cases of corruption, Dóra Ónody-Molnár, a journalist of Jelen weekly, and her mentor Ramóna Heszler explored the problem of domestic violence in their joint article. The authors of the piece, through the example of the victims anonymised in the article, draw attention to a number of systemic anomalies, since, as the very detailed article reveals, many institutions, authorities and the judiciary of the Hungarian state are not sufficiently prepared to prevent physical and psychological abuse within the family and to protect the victims of domestic violence. As the authors wrote, both the police and the courts, as well as educators and guardians of children who have suffered domestic abuse, often fail to recognise the abuse and take the necessary steps to protect victims.  On the contrary, as Dóra Ónody-Molnár and her mentor Ramóna Heszler revealed, in many similar cases in Hungary, as in the examples described in the article, experts, police and courts do not take into account the real situation of women and those in charge of the case behave in a humiliating and distrustful way towards the victims. One solution, the authors argue, could be to change the attitudes of professionals working with victims of domestic violence, in addition to the ratification of the Istanbul Convention, which has been delayed for many years. 

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Boldizsár Bereczki photo by Gábor Lakos

Zsolt Porcsin, editor-in-chief of the Debreciner, and his mentor Boldizsár Bereczki visited seven municipalities in Hajdú-Bihar County to explore the usefulness of markets built in the county using  public and/or EU funds. As they write, despite the fever of market construction in the region in recent years, the vast majority of them cannot be considered a success story, and local market life has either been changed nothing or even backslided. Changing consumer habits and the transformation of local agricultural culture have contributed to this, but in the case of local markets, the failure has been compounded in many cases by the fact that neither the vendors nor the local people were consulted beforehand and were not involved in the planning process. This can result in markets that are not popular with traders or are completely out of the way of clients. They also lose their social function, as they could have been a natural medium and centre for the flow of information and discussion of common issues if they had been designed and developed with due care and attention. 

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Following the presentation of articles from TI Hungary’s 12th Mentor-Mentee Program on Investigative Journalism, the certificates of the mentor-mentee couples were presented by the Executive Director of TI Hungary to this year’s participants. József Péter Martin also announced this year’s investigative mentor-mentee pairs; the first place was awarded to András Kósa, chief editor of Szabad Európa, and his mentor Zsuzsanna Fritz. 

András Kósa, Zsuzsanna Fritz and József Péter Martin photo by Gábor Lakos

The articles of the 12th Mentor-Mentee Program on Investigative Journalism participants were judged by a four-member jury, consisting of: 

• Zsolt Bogár, Chief Editor of Deutsche Welle Hungary 

• József Péter Martin, Executive Director of TI Hungary  

• András Stumpf, journalist and co-founder of Válasz Online  

• Ágnes Urbán, Associate Professor at Corvinus University of Budapest, Director of Mérték Media Monitor 

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The closing event, which included an awards ceremony, was concluded with a reception offered by the Embassy of Finland. The TI Hungary team would like to congratulate the winning pair and all the participants of the 12th Mentor-Mentee Program on Investigative Journalism. 

 

photos by Gábor Lakos

Shaping social attitudes and engaging young people in the fight against corruption has been a priority for years. With our Mentor-Mentee Program on Investigative Journalism, our main ambition is to build successful professional partnerships between mentors and young people who are interested in journalism but lack experience.  TI Hungary’s 12th Mentor-Mentee Program on Investigative Journalism was supported by the Embassy of France in Budapest, the German Embassy in Budapest and the Embassy of Sweden in Budapest.  The opening event of the 12th Mentor-Mentee Program on Investigative Journalism was hosted by the Embassy of Norway in Budapest, while the closing event with the award ceremony was hosted by the Embassy of Finland.  We thank the Embassies for their support!