Hungarian authorities have recovered nearly $20m in cash allegedly linked to a bribery investigation involving Miklos Sesztak, a former minister under ex-Prime Minister Viktor Orban, with some of the money discovered buried in forests and concealed in farm buildings, warehouses and other locations.
The recovery followed an anti-corruption campaign launched by Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Magyar, who defeated Orban in an April election after 16 years of his administration.
Magyar had promised to investigate alleged corruption and restore Hungary’s strained relationship with the European Union.
The National Asset Recovery and Protection Office disclosed on Friday that investigators discovered large sums of money during searches conducted at several locations.
“During searches, investigators found large amounts of cash buried in forests, hidden in farm buildings, warehouses and a residential property, and stored in a high-value safe in a secluded location,” the office said.
Finance Minister Andras Karman said the counting of the recovered money required the involvement of 12 State Treasury workers, who spent eight hours operating banknote-counting machines.
Magyar described the discovery as evidence of the end of what he called a “mafia” allegedly operated by Orban’s right-wing Fidesz party and its Christian Democrat allies during the former prime minister’s 16-year rule.
However, Fidesz expressed hope that Sesztak was not connected to the recovered cash.
“Since the change of regime, every lawmaker in Hungary has sworn an oath to abide by and enforce the law. Fidesz-KDNP (Christian Democrats) cannot associate itself with anyone who fails to do so. We trust that the images published by the NVVH (asset recovery office) have nothing to do with Miklos Sesztak,” the party wrote in a Facebook post.
Sesztak, who served as Orban’s development minister between 2014 and 2018, has denied any wrongdoing.
His lawyer, Gabor Papp, also said the seized money did not belong to his client, adding that other suspects were involved in the bribery investigation.
Papp, however, did not respond to a request for comment on the asset recovery office’s statement.
Meanwhile, Bence Retvari, parliamentary group leader of the Christian Democrats, has called on Sesztak, the party’s vice chairman, to relinquish his parliamentary mandate while seeking to clear his name.
“This is an individual criminal case, and the criminal proceedings must be kept strictly separate from our political community,” Retvari said.
He added, “Peter Magyar wants to use it to portray the entire right as a criminal organisation. We reject this in the strongest possible terms!”
The investigation is part of Magyar’s anti-corruption initiative, which he named “Operation Purgatory”.
A survey conducted by Median and published by news website HVG showed that 70 per cent of respondents considered the operation “very important”.
Sesztak is not the only former official from Orban’s administration facing corruption allegations.
Two former ministers and former central bank chief Gyorgy Matolcsy are currently under arrest in separate investigations.
All three have denied wrongdoing.
Authorities have also detained Orban’s brother in a people-smuggling investigation, which the former prime minister has dismissed as political revenge.
Political scientist Gabor Torok said the images of the recovered cash could have serious consequences for Fidesz, whose support reportedly dropped by half from its pre-election level to 16 per cent in November, according to a Median survey.
