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Cooperation with foreign prosecution offices in criminal matters

Nowa­days, cri­mes cross nati­o­nal bor­ders more fre­qu­ently, so coope­ra­ti­on with other sta­tes has beco­me more essen­ti­al.

Pri­ma­rily

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cri­mes aga­inst property,

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bud­ge­tary fraud,

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money laun­der­ing,

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smuggling of human beings,

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traf­fic­king in human beings

show signs of its cross-border natu­re.

Requests for legal assis­tance are issu­ed as well as rece­i­ved, by Hun­ga­ri­an pro­se­cu­ti­on offi­ces.

Requests for legal assis­tance gene­rally aim

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inter­ro­ga­tions,

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con­fis­ca­tions, and

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data coll­ec­ti­on.

Accord­ing to Euro­pe­an Union (here­inaf­ter refer­red to as: EU) - law Hun­ga­ri­an pro­se­cu­ti­on offi­ces are entit­led to send legal assis­tance requests directly to the com­pe­tent judi­ci­al aut­ho­ri­ti­es of the other EU Mem­ber Sta­tes. The form of the requests has also been stan­dar­di­sed with the Euro­pe­an Investiga­ti­on Order (EIO). The EIO sho­uld be exe­cu­ted wit­hin 90 days.

Amount of criminal legal aid applications received by prosecutors and criminal legal aid to other states from 2017 to 2019

Ábra: Az ügyészi szervekhez érkezett bűnügyi jogsegélykérelmek és a más államokba irányuló bűnügyi jogsegélyek száma a 2017–2019. években
Ábra: Az ügyészi szervekhez érkezett bűnügyi jogsegélykérelmek és a más államokba irányuló bűnügyi jogsegélyek száma a 2017–2019. években

Legal aid with non-EU count­ri­es flows thro­ugh the Offi­ce of Pro­se­cu­tor Gene­ral

Amount of criminal legal aid received by the Office of Prosecutor General

from 2017 to 2019

Ábra: A legfőbb ügyészség által fogadott bűnügyi jogsegélykérelmek<br />száma a 2017–2019. években
Ábra: A legfőbb ügyészség által fogadott bűnügyi jogsegélykérelmek<br />száma a 2017–2019. években

A Pro­se­cu­ti­on Offi­ce also has the opt­ion – thro­ugh the Offi­ce of Pro­se­cu­tor Gene­ral – to rece­ive cri­mi­nal pro­ce­e­dings ini­tia­ted in other count­ri­es, or to trans­fer cri­mi­nal pro­ce­e­dings ini­tia­ted in Hun­gary to anot­her count­ry, if it is the inte­rest of cri­mi­nal pro­ce­e­dings.

Amount of criminal proceedings received from foreign authorities and transfer to foreign authorities from 2017 to 2019

Ábra: A külföldi hatóságoktól átvett és a külföldi hatóságoknak átadott<br />büntetőeljárások száma a 2017–2019. években
Ábra: A külföldi hatóságoktól átvett és a külföldi hatóságoknak átadott<br />büntetőeljárások száma a 2017–2019. években

Hun­ga­ri­an pro­se­cu­ti­on offi­ces may send com­p­la­ints directly to the com­pe­tent pro­se­cu­ti­on offi­ce of the Mem­ber State about cri­mes com­mit­ted aga­inst Hun­ga­ri­an vic­tims abroad by forei­gn per­pet­ra­tors, unless the Pro­se­cu­tor Gene­ral orders an investiga­ti­on in Hun­gary.

Wit­hin the EU the sur­rend­er of citi­zens in rela­ti­on to cri­mi­nal pro­ce­du­res con­duc­ted in anot­her Mem­ber State can be reques­ted via the Euro­pe­an Arrest War­rant. Out­si­de the EU, ext­ra­di­ti­on pro­vi­des an oppor­tunity for the same pro­ce­du­re.

The most important international and EU partners of the Hungarian Prosecution Service

Eurojust logó

Eurojust

EUROJUST - the Euro­pe­an Union Agency for Cri­mi­nal Jus­ti­ce Coope­ra­ti­on - was foun­ded in 2002. Euro­just has its seat in the Hague, in the Net­her­lands.

The task of EUROJUST is to help the aut­ho­ri­ti­es of the Mem­ber Sta­tes to take joint acti­on aga­inst ter­ror­ism and other seri­o­us and orga­ni­sed cri­mes affec­ting two or more EU count­ri­es.

Each EU Mem­ber State sends a mem­ber to the orga­ni­sa­ti­on. Nati­o­nal mem­bers are seni­or pro­se­cu­tors, jud­ges with high level expe­ri­en­ce.

EUROJUST:

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assists the exe­cu­ti­on of legal assis­tance requests wit­hin the EU,

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assists the coor­di­na­ti­on of cross-border cri­mi­nal pro­ce­du­res.

As a problem-solving cent­re, EUROJUST pro­vi­des an oppor­tunity to coor­di­na­te cross-border cri­mi­nal investiga­tions. Thro­ugh its cont­ri­bu­ti­on urgent requests and comp­lex legal issues can be resol­ved in a short time.

EUROJUST also helps:

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orga­ni­zing coor­di­na­ti­on mee­tings,

sett­ing up joint investiga­ti­on teams,
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orga­ni­zing coor­di­na­ti­on cent­res.

In coor­di­na­ti­on mee­tings, mem­bers of investiga­tive aut­ho­ri­ti­es, pro­se­cu­ti­on offi­ces and the judi­ciary come toget­her to faci­li­ta­te investiga­tions invol­ving two or more Mem­ber Sta­tes. Tra­vel and accom­mo­da­ti­on expen­ses are reim­bur­sed by EUROJUST, which pro­vi­des interp­re­ters and analy­ses, as well.

In case of simul­ta­ne­o­us investiga­tions in dif­fe­rent Mem­ber Sta­tes, it is often bene­fi­ci­al to con­duct investiga­tions jointly, the­re­fo­re, EUROJUST also sup­ports the est­ab­lish­ment of joint investiga­ti­on teams. EUROJUST pro­vi­des legal, tech­ni­cal and finan­cial sup­port to them.

Coor­di­na­ti­on cent­res hold joint acti­on days where par­ti­ci­pants can share real-time infor­ma­ti­on on simul­ta­ne­o­us exe­cu­tions of investiga­ti­on mea­sures in the Mem­ber Sta­tes.

In his spe­ech in 2018, Ladis­lav Ham­ran, Pres­ident of Euro­just, emp­has­i­zed that Hun­gary is the first mem­ber state that pro­vi­de infor­ma­ti­on on high-profile cri­mes. Hungary's pro­ac­tive atti­tu­de and com­mit­ment to judi­ci­al coope­ra­ti­on thro­ugh EUROJUST is exemp­lary.

Olaf logó

European Anti-Fraud Office (Office européen de lutte antifraude - OLAF):

As a body of the Euro­pe­an Union, OLAF’s task is detec­ting and investigat­ing misu­se of EU funds.

Its juris­dic­ti­on inc­lu­des:

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all EU expen­di­tu­re,

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cert­ain EU reve­nue (cus­toms dut­i­es),

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investigat­ing seri­o­us mis­con­duct by EU staff and ins­ti­tu­tions.

OLAF’s pro­ce­du­res aim the detec­ti­on of admi­nistra­tive irre­gu­la­ri­ti­es, fol­lo­wed by even­tu­al

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admi­nistra­tive,

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finan­cial,

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or judi­ci­al recom­men­da­tions.

Judi­ci­al recom­men­da­tions are made by OLAF if, in its opin­ion, the sus­pi­ci­on of a cri­mi­nal offen­se appe­ars. Based on such judi­ci­al recom­men­da­ti­on the com­pe­tent aut­ho­ri­ti­es of the con­cer­ned Mem­ber State deci­de whet­her it is neces­sary to ini­tia­te a cri­mi­nal investiga­ti­on.

The Hun­ga­ri­an Pro­se­cu­ti­on Ser­vi­ce is con­ti­nu­o­usly coope­rat­ing with OLAF. To date, the Hun­ga­ri­an Pro­se­cu­ti­on Ser­vi­ce orde­red cri­mi­nal investiga­ti­on in each case indi­ca­ted by a recom­men­da­ti­on of OLAF or if the cri­mi­nal investiga­ti­on had alre­ady been ongo­ing, the recom­men­da­ti­on was eva­lu­a­ted in the cour­se of the cri­mi­nal pro­ce­du­re.

Accord­ing to OLAF's 2019 annu­al report, the Hun­ga­ri­an Pro­se­cu­ti­on Ser­vi­ce filed indict­ments in 47 % of the cases invol­ving judi­ci­al recom­men­da­tions from OLAF, which is a sig­ni­fi­cantly hig­her per­cen­tage than the aver­age in the Euro­pe­an Union (39 %).

The num­ber of the judi­ci­al recom­men­da­tions sent by OLAF has been stea­di­ly dec­re­a­sing during the last years:

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ten in 2015 and 2016, respec­ti­vely,

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six in 2017,

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four in 2018,

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and three recom­men­da­tions were rece­i­ved in 2019.

Both OLAF and the Hun­ga­ri­an Pro­se­cu­ti­on Ser­vi­ce attach great impor­tance to the effi­ci­ent exc­han­ge of infor­ma­ti­on and co-operation bet­ween the orga­ni­sa­tions, which is also sup­port­ed by the mee­tings bet­ween the Directors-General of OLAF and the Pro­se­cu­tor Gene­ral of Hun­gary.

Web­site: https://ec.europa.eu/anti-fraud/home_en

Europol logó

EUROPOL

The Hun­ga­ri­an Pro­se­cu­ti­on Ser­vi­ce is in close coope­ra­ti­on with EUROPOL, pri­ma­rily thro­ugh EUROJUST.

EUROPOL is the Euro­pe­an Union's law enfor­ce­ment agency and a body sup­port­ing EU coope­ra­ti­on in cri­mi­nal mat­ters.

In cri­mi­nal cases of inter­na­ti­o­nal natu­re, EUROPOL pro­vi­des pro­fes­si­o­nal and tech­ni­cal assis­tance to the investiga­tions of the respec­tive Mem­ber Sta­tes. In such cases Euro­pol also pro­vi­des infor­ma­ti­on, coor­di­na­ti­on, labo­ra­to­ry ope­ra­ti­on and tech­no­log­i­cal backg­round sup­port.

Web­site: https://www.europol.europa.eu/about-europol

Interpol logó

Interpol

INTERPOL assists investiga­tions world­wi­de, their data­bas­es – inter alia on wan­ted per­sons, finger­prints, and sto­len iden­tity cards – play an impor­tant role in inter­na­ti­o­nal investiga­tions. INTERPOL also pro­vi­des tech­ni­cal and con­sult­ing backg­round sup­port. Thro­ugh cri­mi­nal cases, the Hun­ga­ri­an Pro­se­cu­ti­on Ser­vi­ce is also in con­tact with this orga­ni­sa­ti­on based in Lyon, France.

Web­site: https://www.interpol.int/en

EJN logó

European Judicial Network (EJN)

Wit­hin the EU, the net­work is res­pon­sib­le for faci­li­tat­ing and assisting judi­ci­al coope­ra­ti­on in cri­mi­nal mat­ters. Each mem­ber state desig­na­tes points of con­tact to share and pro­vi­de infor­ma­ti­on. A con­tact per­son is ava­i­lab­le wit­hin the Hun­ga­ri­an Pro­se­cu­ti­on Ser­vi­ce.

Web­site: https://www.ejn-crimjust.europa.eu/ejn/Ejn_Home/EN