Hidden Millions

Hungarian: Orbán’s Party “No Longer Exists”

The cash found is said to be bribes from Viktor Orbán’s era.(Bild: Krone KREATIV/AFP/NICOLAS TUCAT, Screenshot facebook.com/nvvhhivatalos)

While the former Hungarian ruling party continues to speak of “political persecution” and “purges” by the new government, Prime Minister Péter Magyar has already declared Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz party “finished.”

On Facebook, Orbán’s former party colleague—and now his fiercest opponent—posted a video featuring photos and footage of the seized cash, along with excerpts from an interview with the former prime minister in which he emphasizes, among other things: “All my ministers are beyond reproach. You will not find a single violation of the law or a single case of corruption.”

Prime Minister Péter Magyar is gleefully capitalizing on the findings of the investigation against the former Minister of Development and eagerly lashing out at Viktor Orbán, whom he describes as a “toppled mafia boss.”(Bild: EPA/ROBERT HEGEDUS)

Magyar: “Orbán is a deposed mafia boss”
In the background plays the theme song from the Netflix series “Narcos,” which traces the rise and fall of the Colombian drug cartel centered around Pablo Escobar—in part with fictionalized scenes. For Magyar, one thing is already clear: “Fidesz has ceased to exist and, as of today, is officially an organized criminal group.” Orbán, in turn, is a “deposed mafia boss.”

What the former minister is accused of
The cash found in various currencies, totaling 17.7 million euros, is attributed to former Development Minister Miklós Seszták. He is alleged to have accepted bribes from state-owned transportation companies in connection with the purchase of used buses and a property at inflated prices. The politician, who is under suspicion of corruption and is currently in pretrial detention, denies the allegations. His attorney also emphasized to the Telex news portal on Saturday that the authorities had by no means claimed that the seized money belonged to his client. Several suspects are involved in the case.

The anti-corruption agency NVVH has released images of the seized cash:

Although his party, the KDNP—Fidesz’s smaller coalition partner—officially presumes the politician’s innocence, parliamentary group leader Bence Rétvári nevertheless called on Seszták to resign his parliamentary seat. At the same time, Rétvári rejected Magyar’s attempt to portray the entire right-wing political bloc as a criminal organization.

Fidesz Politician Believes Cash Find Was “Staged”
Another reaction from within Fidesz circles added to the controversy: Former government official Péter Takács questioned the published footage, suggesting it looked more like staged scenes. Journalist and Fidesz-aligned commentator Zsolt Bayer even raised the possibility that someone might have tipped off investigators to the location or hidden the money there themselves beforehand.