Steven N.
After Budapest Mayor Gergely Karácsony refuted a story on Index stating that the City Council was considering selling City Hall, the news portal shot back yesterday with a claim that it possessed documents proving that city leaders indeed intend to sell the municipal complex.
An article written by Index’s Editor-in-Chief writes that the documents in their possession prove that, despite the capital’s denial of the plan to sell City Hall, the city would put the property on the market for about 40 billion Ft.
In addition, the client would entice the potential buyer to help obtain any necessary building permits to establish a hotel, office building or possibly a bank center on the premises.
City Hall is considered one of the most valuable pieces of property owned by the capital, and is a historically-protected structure.
Karácsony also reacted to Index’s claim of documents in its possession proving that the capital wants to sell City Hall. “Index continues distributing its obviously fake news, thumbing its nose at press ethics again and not even waiting for a the response of the Metropolitan Municipality,” the mayor wrote in response to in a Facebook post on Friday morning.
“I repeat,” wrote the mayor, “No decision was made to sell City Hall, the City Council has not taken any steps to that end, and so a contract was not issued either. Everything else is a lie.”
The mayor also wrote that he would be filing charges to find out if anyone had wrongly given the impression that City Hall could be sold.
[Népszava]
