The president expressed concerns over the law’s failure to clearly define the scope of the farmland in question, allowing, in principle, the state to take over any land farmed by cooperatives not previously designated to compensation land funds free of charge, MTI reported.  

The law stipulates that farmland taken over by the state is to be offered in ongoing sales of land to local farmers.

The law also repealed earlier legislation allowing the former cooperative members to purchase the farmland using compensation coupons, thus bringing the compensation process to a conclusion.

Earlier on Friday, Takarékbank, which acts as a kind of central bank for Hungaryʼs savings cooperatives, denied allegations of theft made by Sándor Demján. On Thursday, Demján made the claim that an open letter he had written prevented the theft of upwards of HUF 70 billion from the assets of savings cooperatives by a “group of parasites”, MTI reported on Friday.