A Budapest district mayor was arrested on Tuesday on suspicion of involvement in the corrupt sale of council-owned buildings in the centre of the Hungarian capital, dpa reported.
Gyorgy Hunvald was questioned about his alleged involvement in the sale of large properties in District VII, including several in the historic Jewish Quarter.
District VII's socialist mayor joins 11 suspects to be questioned in an ongoing investigation by the public prosecutor's office.
The allegations involve the sale at below market value of several large tenement blocks in 2003 and 2004.
A property ring, including politicians, entrepreneurs and an official valuer, is alleged to have sold the properties on through offshore companies to foreign investors at a large profit.
The prosecutor's office is investigating the sale of 14 buildings, and estimates that the affair could have cost the local council as much as 1 billion Hungarian forints (4.41 million dollars).
The case hit the headlines in November when the head of the local council's treasury committee was arrested for his alleged role in the affair.
According to the prosecutor's allegations, the liberal councillor Gyorgy Gal could have collected the equivalent of over 1 million dollars in bribes.
Opposition politicians have since the arrest been calling for the dissolution of the socialist-liberal district council.
Hunvald filed an official complaint over his arrest, said Imre Keresztes, the head of the investigating prosecutor's office.