International organized crime in Hungary

Résumé du document

After the EU-accession on 1 May 2004, a great increase was witnessed in the turnover of the organized crime groups, which became more flexible and versatile, effectively penetrating more legitimate businesses. Especially as the borders opened up due to Schengen, it became much easier for crime groups to succeed in their operations, smuggling got relatively easier, and Hungary became even more a transit country. The reason for this is that Hungary is now the eastern end of the Schengen area. The Hungarian legislature aimed to take on and implement every framework decision into Hungarian legislation, thus numerous laws, acts and enactments were born accordingly to the EU expectations. The Hungarian criminal law punishes collaboration with any criminal organization, as well as the person who supports the criminal organization: "Any person, who instigates, suggests or offers, or joins or collaborates to engage in criminal activities in an organization, or who provides the means intended to be used for such activities, or supports the activities of the criminal organization in any other manner, is guilty of felony, punishable by imprisonment not to exceed five years." Hungary is not specifically a target country for crime, but rather a transit country. However, this tendency seems to change in certain areas of crime, for example, concerning drug smuggling Hungary is turning into a target country.

Extraits

[...] Counterfeiting of national currency is the bigger problem than euro for us at this time. This is partly because our legal currency is the Forint and partly because the great majority of people can not distinguish between a fake and a real banknote in our country. Regarding the national currency pieces of counterfeit forint banknotes were seized until 31 December 2009, which means a 300% reduction compared to 2008. Concerning euro pieces of counterfeit banknotes were seized out of circulation in 2009. [...]

[...] Hungary included trafficking in human beings as an independent criminal act in its Penal Code in 1998, which came into force on 1 March 1999. Accordingly, anyone who sells, purchases, conveys, receives, exchanges, transfers or abducts another person is to be punished. In 2007, Hungary has ratified the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings. In the past few years Albanians from Kosovo were on the go in Hungary, and Iranian and Afghan refugees were smuggled in well organized groups. Hungarian criminals provide just part of the tasks. [...]

[...] If the drug in question is of a substantial quantity, the penalty is 5-20 years or life imprisonment. Various legal provisions in the Penal Code take into account the involvement of addicts and small quantities to provide lower sentencing ranges. Vietnamese immigrants have started to set up cannabis plantations in Hungary since 2008. Last year 32 were confiscated. Vietnamese criminals are sent to Hungary with falsified documents, who then rent huge houses here and by using electricity in an industrial quantity they grow cannabis. The greatest problem since 2008 is the smuggling of drug precursors. [...]

[...] Inventories of all national military, police and sporting holdings are subject to strict security controls and registration.[4] 3.2 Trafficking in human beings Given both geographical situations, and its general economic conditions being relatively better in relation to other central and eastern European countries, Hungary functions as a country of origin, of transit, and of final destination for human trafficking victims. Hungarian women are trafficked to destinations in Western Europe, including France, Germany, and Italy. Some are promised summer jobs as waitresses, but are then usually transported with false documents and then forced into illegal labor. Its position along one of the most heavily used access trafficking routes into Europe, makes Hungary an important transit country. [...]

[...] As the OCTA 2009 report shows, organized crime groups based in Hungary choose an EL-LE profile, meaning that they try above all to elude law enforcement attention so there is still much work to be done.[12] References Hungarian legal acts 1. Act IV of 1978 on the Hungarian Penal Code 2. Government Decree 16/2004. (II. 6.) (Kormányrendelet a haditechnikai eszközök és szolgáltatások kivitelének, behozatalának, transzferjének és tranzitjának engedélyezéséről) 3. Act CXXXVI of 2007. (Törvény a pénzmosás és a terrorizmus finanszírozása megelőzéséről és megakadályozásáról) European Union law, case law and other EU documents 1. Council Framework Decision 2002/584/JHA of 13 June 2002 on the European arrest warrant and the surrender procedures between Member States (OJ 2002 L 190 pp. [...]