OMM Newsroom
Hungarian authorities have found cash worth a combined $19.5m hidden in farm buildings, warehouses and forests during an investigation into a former minister under Viktor Orbán, according to the BBC.
Miklós Seszták, who served as national development minister for four years during Orbán’s 16-year rule, is accused of accepting bribes in a scheme involving the state transport company. He has denied any wrongdoing.
The National Asset Recovery and Protection Office (NVVH) said investigators found banknotes in safes, buried in woodland and hidden in agricultural and residential buildings and warehouses. The search for the money took two days and covered secluded locations around the country.
The NVVH said the seized cash totalled 5,071,632,000 forints, €2,658,350 and $1,257,100. It has been deposited into the Hungarian State Treasury.
On Friday, Prime Minister Péter Magyar described the discovery as the end of the “mafia”. The NVVH was established to investigate corruption allegations from the Orbán era, in an initiative Magyar has called “Operation Purgatory”.
Magyar defeated Orbán in a landslide election in April, pledging a sweeping anti-corruption campaign and “regime change”. Since taking office, he has moved to reverse a number of policies introduced under Orbán.
Orbán has long faced allegations of corruption and cronyism. The European Union characterised Hungary under his tenure as an “electoral autocracy”, while his government was accused of awarding lucrative state projects to allies. Orbán has strongly denied the allegations.
Seszták and another former minister, as well as former central bank chief Gyorgy Matolcsy, have been under arrest since September in separate graft investigations. They all deny wrongdoing.
On Monday, Hungarian authorities also detained Orbán’s brother and three other people in a people-smuggling case. The former prime minister called the case political revenge, saying the aim was to eliminate his political opposition and establish a one-party system. He said he was the target and his younger brother was “just a tool”.
