MSzP party president Attila Mesterházy said in parliament on Monday that his party would appeal to the EC to “return taxpayers’ money.”

Mesterházy argued that the Hungarian state had paid HUF 280 billion for the gas business when it was worth only HUF 110 billion and spent another HUF 60 billion ($1.256 billion) on storage facilities.

State Secretary Miklós Soltész dismissed the Socialist leader’s remarks as a “lie” and insisted that independent appraisers had valued the E.ON gas business at HUF 400 billion. Soltész also accused the Socialists of “attacking the country whenever they find an opportunity.”