BUDAPEST: Hungarian lawmakers elected a new prosecutor general as part of Prime Minister Peter Magyar's push to hold nationalist ex-leader Viktor Orban and his allies accountable over alleged corruption. Parliament confirmed Peter Fejes, a recently retired career prosecutor, for the top post, as investigations into high-level graft gather pace in the Central European country. Three ex-ministers are in custody, including a former central bank governor, whom Orban once called his "right-hand" man.
In a secret ballot, Fejes got 139 votes in favour and six against in the 199-member legislature, where Magyar's Tisza party holds more than two-thirds of the seats. Orban's Fidesz party and its ally KDNP boycotted the vote. "On behalf of all Hungarians, I wish you every success in your work," Magyar said, shortly after Fejes took an oath of office in parliament for the nine-year term.
In parliament, after his election, Fejes apologised for "certain decisions taken by the Public Prosecutor's Office in recent times which have justifiably and reasonably offended the public's sense of justice". Last month, parliament rejected President Andras Baka's first nominee for prosecutor-general after reports revealed that his brother was linked to the so-called "golden convoy" case. — AFP
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