Hungarian investigators recover $19.5m in cash from forests and buildings

Investigators in Hungary have recovered $19.5m in concealed cash during a corruption inquiry involving a former minister in Viktor Orban’s government. Some of the money was buried in forests, while other bundles were found in buildings and a safe.

The National Asset Recovery and Protection Office announced the discovery in a statement late on Friday, November 13. The recently established agency, tasked with examining suspected misuse of public funds, said its officers conducted searches on November 12 and 13 in Budapest and three other areas of the country.

The recovered money included Hungarian forints, euros and US dollars. Investigators located cash in agricultural buildings, warehouses, a residence and an expensive safe in an isolated location, as well as underground in wooded areas. Footage released by the agency showed officers excavating outdoors at night and inspecting stacks of banknotes.

The cash was subsequently placed with the state treasury. In a Facebook post on Friday, Finance Minister Andras Karman said counting the recovered money required eight hours of work by 12 treasury employees.

The investigation concerns Miklos Sesztak, who served as development minister between 2014 and 2018. He is suspected of taking more than $37.2m in bribes and kickbacks connected to a state transport company’s purchases of overpriced used buses and to government construction projects. Sesztak was detained in September and has denied any wrongdoing.

Prime Minister Peter Magyar responded to the recovery in a Facebook post on Friday, portraying it as a sign that what he called the “Fidesz-KDNP mafia” had ended. His centre-right, pro-European Tisza party brought Orban’s 16-year period in office to a close in April. Fidesz is Orban’s right-wing party, and KDNP, formally the Christian Democratic People’s Party, served as its junior coalition partner.

Orban has previously alleged that the new administration is using the investigations to push him out of political life. Separate cases have led to the arrests of other former ministers and Gyorgy Matolcsy, the former governor of Hungary’s central bank. The allegations against Matolcsy involve misuse of public assets held by a central bank foundation. He has also denied wrongdoing.

A Median survey published this week by Hungarian news website HVG indicated broad support for examining alleged corruption during Orban’s time in power. According to the poll, 70 percent of respondents regarded investigating those suspicions and holding those responsible to account as very important.