Cafe Mistral received 281 million forints under a pandemic-era business support program to retain one employee, RTL reported.
Cafe Mistral, a company linked to Zsolt Komonczi, received 281 million forints through a competitiveness support program launched during the Covid-19 pandemic. The grant was intended to preserve one job, broadcaster RTL reported. According to RTL, the recipient list also included businesses that pledged to preserve more than 2,000 jobs for the same amount of state support.
Cafe Mistral received additional pandemic-era subsidies for other projects. The total state support it received was about 636 million forints, RTL reported. The money was used in part to build three car washes.
Komonczi was previously chief of staff to Miklós Seszták, a former minister. The Hungarian outlet 24.hu reported that Komonczi frequently did business with István Tiborcz and Norbert Szivek, the former head of Hungary’s state asset management company. The report says Szivek was recently arrested, while Seszták was detained the previous week.
Komonczi was also recently reported to have been ordered to demolish a swimming pool built without a permit in Tihany. The claims in this account are attributed to RTL and 24.hu. The source report did not include a response from Cafe Mistral.