Simicska loses right to operate poster kiosks in capital
Budapest’s Municipal Council continued the governmentʼs efforts to back away from media mogul Lajos Simicska today by setting the deadline for the end of a contract that allowed Simicskaʼs Mahír Cityposter Kft. to operate 700 poster kiosks in public spaces in the capital, according to news reports.
The poster kiosks must be dismantled and removed from public spaces by the end of the year at the owner’s cost, or sanctions will be imposed against the operator, under the decision made by the capital’s municipal assembly today, MTI said.
A long-time ally of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, Simicska (pictured) had a public falling out with the prime minister and the ruling Fidesz party earlier this year.
Since then, Simicska has been losing valuable contracts with officialdom: Közgép, the construction company that Simicska owned, and that used to win more money in Hungarian government procurement tenders than any other firm, has stopped getting contracts. Recently, Metropol, a free newspaper in which Simicska has ownership, lost a license for distribution in the capitalʼs Metro stations.
Todayʼs decision to take away the poster kiosks is another clear loss for Simicska.
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