Soros says Hungarian government lying in attacks against him
BUDAPEST - US financier George Soros on Monday denounced a Hungarian government campaign against him as "distortions and lies" designed to create a false external enemy.
Soros, 86, is a Hungarian-born Jew whose longtime support for liberal and open-border values in eastern Europe have put him at odds with right-wing nationalists, in particular the government of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
Orban, who faces elections in April 2018, last month sent to voters seven statements attributed to Soros that, among other things, called for the European Union to settle a million migrants a year and pay each of them thousands of euros.
"The statements... contain distortions and outright lies that deliberately mislead Hungarians about George Soros's views on migrants and refugees," said a statement issued by Soros's Open Society Foundations.
"With Hungary's health care and education systems in distress and corruption rife, the current government has sought to create an outside enemy to distract citizens. The government selected George Soros for this purpose," it said.
