Hungarian prosecutors have dismissed a complaint related to allegations of unauthorized surveillance by the Information Office on staff from the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF), citing the statute of limitations.

The complaint was initially interpreted from a written question submitted in December 2022 by Ágnes Vadai, a member of the Hungarian parliament for the Democratic Coalition (DK), to Chief Prosecutor Péter Polt.

Vadai's inquiry followed an investigation by the news outlet Direkt36, which revealed that during the tenure of János Lázár as a government minister, agents from the Information Office had monitored OLAF personnel investigating suspicious projects by the company Elios in Hungary.

The events in question reportedly occurred during the summer of 2018 when personnel from other government agencies entered the Information Office headquarters to retrieve documents.

The prosecution cited the statute of limitations as the primary reason for dismissing the complaint, stating that the alleged actions took place no later than the summer of 2018. Since no criminal procedural actions interrupted the statute of limitations, the potential activities' prosecutability had lapsed.

Prosecutors also determined that there was insufficient evidence to even establish suspicion of unauthorized surveillance crimes based on the details provided in the complaint and the Direkt36 article.

They noted that the allegations relied heavily on unnamed sources and assumptions, lacking objective data to substantiate claims that official members of the Information Office engaged in covert surveillance without judicial approval or legal justification.

Additionally, it was observed that neither the individuals allegedly monitored, according to the complaint, nor OLAF had filed complaints or made such concerns public, despite being aware of the alleged surveillance as reported.

In a separate but related development, Ferenec Pál Biró, head of the Integrity Authority, issued a statement on social media rejecting claims published in Hungarian media that he misappropriated public funds for personal home renovations.

Biró emphasized that his success and wealth were independently achieved over decades in the private sector, and he had opted for a significant salary reduction to serve the nation in a public capacity.

He also denied allegations that his property was omitted from mandatory asset declarations, explaining adherence to a legal amendment enacted in 2022, which exempted residential addresses from being disclosed in such declarations.

The work on security upgrades at his residence was reportedly conducted by Valton Security, following concerns of threats related to professional investigations.