Hungarian Authorities Seize €18M Cash in Miklós Seszták Investigation

Hungarian authorities seized nearly 18 million euros in cash, discovered buried in forests, hidden in farm buildings, and locked in a secure safe during an anti-corruption investigation into a former government minister, NOS Nieuws reported.

Het totale bedrag bestond uit 5,07 miljard forint, 2,66 miljoen euro en 1,26 miljoen dollar. Twelve treasury employees spent eight hours counting the money using five currency-counting machines, and the recovered funds were deposited into the state treasury, NOS Nieuws reported.

The National Bureau for Asset Recovery and Protection, abbreviated as NVVH, conducted the searches on November 12 and 13, according to Vietnam.vn.

The investigation centers on Miklós Seszták, who served as Minister of National Development between 2014 and 2018 under former Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, as reported by Vietnam.vn. Seszták is accused of accepting bribes related to a state transport company through the acquisition of used buses at inflated prices, according to Vietnam.vn.

Seszták denies any wrongdoing, and his lawyer refused to comment, Nieuwsblad reported. Orbán was defeated in April by nationalist challenger Péter Magyar after holding power for sixteen years, according to NOS Nieuws. Magyar launched an anti-corruption campaign named Operation Purgatory, which led to the creation of the NVVH anti-corruption agency, according to Nieuwsblad.

Magyar described the seized money as the end of a mafia led by Orbán’s Fidesz party and its Christian Democratic allies, Nieuwsblad reported. Hungarian political scientist Gábor Török told Reuters that the released images of the cash stacks were so striking they likely spelled doom for Fidesz, whose public support halved to 16 percent of voters in November compared to pre-election levels.

Orbán has not yet responded to the latest developments, having previously condemned investigations targeting individuals in his inner circle as attempts to harm him, Vietnam.vn reported. The former prime minister previously dismissed the arrest of his brother in a human trafficking case as an act of political revenge, according to Nieuwsblad.

Two former ministers from Orbán’s administration are now in prison following separate investigations into bribery, Nieuwsblad reported. György Matolcsy, the former head of the central bank, is also imprisoned, according to NOS Nieuws. The director of the Hungarian corruption watchdog is among those arrested, according to NOS Nieuws.

All jailed figures deny wrongdoing, Nieuwsblad reported. The NVVH said that it searched multiple locations on November 12 and 13 in preparation for a criminal case against Seszták, according to Vietnam.vn.