A German insurance firm has admitted rewarding its best salesmen with a prostitute-filled "sex party" in Budapest's most famous thermal baths. Hamburg-Mannheimer International HMI , now part of the huge Munich Re insurance conglomerate, rented out the historic Gellert Baths in the Hungarian capital and turned it into an "open-air brothel", where it let staff run riot. At least 20 prostitutes were hired by HMI top brass for the so-called "incentive trip". According to those present, the women were colour-coded to indicate which men were allowed to have sex with them.
Those wearing white ribbons were reserved for "the very best salespeople and executives", said one HMI employee. After an investigation printed in the German newspaper Handelsblatt, Munich Re has admitted that the party — described in one German magazine as "Bunga-Bunga in Budapest" — did occur.
Our research has discovered that during an evening event during this trip, around 20 prostitutes were present," said a spokesman for Ergo, a life insurance arm of Munich Re that took over HMI some time after the party took place.
The Handelsblatt newspaper has gathered sworn statements from a number of HMI employees who attended the party. The HMI boss told everyone it was "strictly forbidden" to take photos or video the event, he added. According to a signed affidavit from another employee: "The ladies came up to us and showed us what they had.
It was clear to everyone there that they were hookers. Then there were women wearing white ribbons. They, allegedly, were reserved for the "best of the best" in the company. Another guest said that beds had been set up around the baths where the salesmen could "do what they wanted". The women, he claimed, were then given an ink stamp on their forearms to show how popular they had been: some of the women ended up with more than a dozen stamps, it is alleged.
