A new government bill seeks to protect whistleblowers who report corruption involving public funds, State Secretary for Parliamentary Affairs at the Ministry of Public Administration and Justice Bence Rétvári said before the legislation was submitted to lawmakers on Tuesday.

The bill seeks anonymity for whistleblowers and to protect them from any negative consequences of their action, he stated at a press conference.

Under the bill, an official from the staff of each public institution will be appointed with the task of minimising the institution's exposure to corruption and forwarding information received from witnesses to the ombudsman.

The State Secretary emphasised that the ombudsman was selected to evaluate the information because his office has the necessary infrastructure and because his office, according to surveys, is trusted by voters.

Complaints can also be submitted through an electronic system under the bill, in which the cases will be given a code number and the witness can later follow up on developments using that identifier, he added.

The new law will not eliminate traditional ways of reporting on graft cases and witnesses will still be able to turn to the police or the prosecutor as before, State Secretary Rétvári pointed out.

Authors of the bill drew on international, Swiss and Austrian examples for the bill, he stated, adding that Parliament could discuss the motion in September and vote on it in October.

(MTI, Ministry of Public Administration and Justice)