TI Hungary recognizes investigative journalist

Transparency International Hungary has rewarded the exploration of corruption in the municipality of Budapest’s 9th District (Ferencváros) with the Göbölyös Soma Prize. The author of the winning entry, a series of articles was Dániel Ács, a journalist at the news portal 444.hu.

The professional jury invited by Transparency International Hungary received the nineteen entries, among them several series of articles, and deemed as best the work of the 444.hu journalist revealing systemic corruption in the municipality of Ferencváros. The three main criteria for evaluating applications were the quantity and quality of the investigative work, the relevance of the topic and as well as clarity.

A press release by Transparency International Hungary says the seven-part series of articles and videos of 444.hu illustrate, among others, how certain elected representatives the 9th district, directors of local government run companies, and their relatives benefited from crony local real estate deals. Dániel Ács describes the Ferencváros model of private utilization of public property by revealing the personal network behind corruption. As a result of the investigations of 444.hu, one can see that corruption and local public money have been used as a tool for burying differences between opposing political parties.