(clears throat) Ah, the delightful world of corruption and bureaucratic shenanigans! Where else can you find such a rich tapestry of deceit, self-interest, and sheer, unadulterated avarice? Welcome, dear readers, to the case of Shadl and his merry band of associates, a tale of influence peddling, corruption, and the art of lining one’s pockets with the hard-earned cash of others.
Now, let’s get down to brass tacks, shall we? It appears that in 2018, two enterprising deputy bailiffs, with a keen sense of entrepreneurship, approached a prospective candidate for the position of bailiff and offered to, shall we say, “facilitate” his appointment. All they required in return was a modest share of the future office’s income and a guarantee of employment for themselves. Ah, the audacity! The sheer, unmitigated gall! I mean, who wouldn’t want to get in on that sweet, sweet gravy train?
Fast-forward to 2019, and our plucky applicant finds himself appointed to the position, sans the intervention of the two deputies. But here’s the thing: Shadl, the mastermind behind this little operation, gets wind of the whole affair and, instead of reporting the attempted corruption, decides to call the deputies and tell them to, well, sod off, essentially. No report is filed, and the whole thing is swept under the rug.
Now, I know what you’re thinking: “What’s the big deal? It’s just a bit of old-fashioned wheel-greasing, right?” Ah, but dear readers, this is where it gets juicy. You see, Shadl and his cohorts are already embroiled in a rather… complicated… case, involving the payment of rather substantial sums of money (we’re talking HUF 83 million, or roughly £220,000) to one Pál Völner, a former State Secretary of Justice, in exchange for “arranging” certain cases. The indictment alleges that Shadl obtained a whopping HUF 924 million (around £2.4 million) in “illegal income” through this little scheme.
I mean, seriously, folks, this is like something out of a Monty Python sketch. “I’m not a corrupt official, I’m just a humble public servant with a taste for the finer things in life… and a few hundred thousand quid in my back pocket.” The mind boggles!
In conclusion, dear readers, it’s business as usual in the world of high-stakes corruption and bureaucratic backroom deals. But fear not, for justice will be served… or at least, that’s the theory. Stay tuned for further updates on this delightful tale of avarice and deceit. And remember, as the great philosopher, Mandy Rice-Davies, once said, “He would, wouldn’t he?”
In another case, the Central Prosecutor’s Office filed an indictment against Shadl and three of his companions.
What happened? Based on the indictment, in 2018, two deputy bailiffs contacted a person who applied for the position of bailiff. They promised him that they would be able to influence the outcome of the tender and secure his appointment if they received a share of the future office’s income and employed them in the office.
The applicant was appointed in 2019, according to the indictment, without the intervention of the other two defendants. The applicant told Schadl what had happened, who called on the two deputies – so the applicant neither had to pay them nor employ them. In such a case, however, Schadl and the vice president of the MBVK should have filed a report, but they failed to do so, so the charge is failure to report a crime of corruption and influence peddling. In the indictment, the General Prosecutor’s Office also proposed that the court combine this case with the trial of corruption and other crimes against Schadl and 21 of his associates.
Background: The extremely complicated Schadl-Völner case broke out in 2021. In short, it is about how Schadl regularly paid HUF 2-5 million to former State Secretary of Justice Pál Völner in order to arrange cases, such as executor appointments, at the request of the State Secretary. A total of at least HUF 83 million thus went to Völner, which Schadl paid out of what he received from the executors appointed in this way. According to the indictment, he obtained HUF 924 million in illegal income.
