Vértesi Power Plant Co. owes hundreds of billions of forints to those energy traders with whom it took up capacities commissioned by System Consulting Co.
System, owned by László Kapolyi, former MP for the Hungarian Socialist Party (MSzP) desisted from buying Vértesi Power Plant Co., almost bankrupting the state enterprise.
In its reasoning the court stated that the owner of the defendant, Vértesi Power Plant, is MVM Co. (Hungarian Electricity Works Co.), operating in permanent state ownership, and according to the right interpretation of the law the same rules of the law on state owned enterprises should be applied for indirectly state-owned business enterprises, “since otherwise the rules of the law of data protection could easily be evaded by outsourcing state wealth into state-owned business enterprises.”
The Hungarian Civil Liberties Union (HCLU) provided legal representation in the case.
"It is of high public interest that citizens could learn the details of the deal including political links, as a consequence of which a renowned state enterprise has been dirven to the verge of bankruptcy.” – commented the decision Tivadar Hüttl, the head of the Data Protection Program of HCLU.