Kármán appoints Zoltán Sólyom as Szerencsejáték chief executive

Hungarian Finance Minister András Kármán has appointed Zoltán Sólyom as chief executive of Szerencsejáték Zrt., a company wholly controlled by the state and described as the main public lottery and gaming operator in Hungary. The decision was announced on 27 October and forms part of a governance review of public companies started by the government led by the TISZA party.

Former chief executive Zoltán Guller had been removed on 30 June. A reorganisation of the board began in July, and several members linked to the previous administration left. Operational leadership had been assigned temporarily to Balázs Pozsgai, the company's finance director.

Sólyom founded Palladium Consulting in 1997, a company specialising in insurance consultancy and brokerage for businesses, after management experience in the Generali group. Since August he had also held roles on the supervisory bodies of Szerencsejáték and of the public investment company Corvinus International Investment.

Kármán alleged that in recent years Szerencsejáték had been used as a means of financing companies close to Fidesz, the party of former prime minister Viktor Orbán. He said billions of forints from the company's resources were allegedly distributed without adequate transparency and on political criteria. The source describes these as political claims that do not in themselves establish irregularities. Orbán's office rejected the allegations, saying the company had acted within the law and under transparent procedures. According to the finance minister, the new management is to ensure greater accountability in the use of public resources and turn Szerencsejáték into a modern and efficient company serving Hungarian taxpayers.