THE LOST MALEV

Developments in Hungary

In 2004, the Hungarian Parliament voted to allocate 100 million HUF (appr. 400.000 euros) to a Fund with the following aim: localisation of the wreck of the aircraft and the repatriation of those on board. See: Questions in Parliament 2004
Up till today, no action has been taken to that effect.

On the contrary, in 2007, the Hungarian Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Economy and Transport suggested that the monies of the Fund should be distributed amongst the Hungarian relatives. This proposal was rejected by the British/Hungarian, who is demanding that the monies will be spent for the purpose it was allocated.

In 2007, I wrote to the Hungarian Deputy Minister asking for the same in the interest of all relatives. His answer is interesting: the search for the wreckage would be too costly. No word about a search for the buried victims...

The Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs stated in his answer in December 2008 to my request for help that he would have the Dutch Ambassadors in Lebanon and Hungary contact the Ambassadors of Britain, France and Finland to jointly write a memorandum to the Hungarian government for help and information. The German ambassador joined too. However, the response of Hungary and Lebanon was that they could do nothing and know nothing.

The British/Hungarian relative filed a law suit in Hungary against the State, demanding the disclosure of any information pertaining to this case and to use the fund for the search of the 17 unidentified buried victims. The case has been accepted by the court and was scheduled to take place in 2011.

Update: the Hungarian relatives accepted the offer of the Minister and received 35.000 euro in exchange of a 'final waiver'. The British/Hungarian refused, but the fund was now virtually empty, making the court case pointless.