Hungarian authorities seized more than 18 million dollars in cash during a two-day operation that targeted a former government minister, as reported by Associated Press.
Investigators uncovered large sums of money buried in forests, hidden inside agricultural buildings, warehouses, and a residential property, alongside funds kept in a heavily secured safe at a secret location. The Asset Recovery Office found over 5 billion Hungarian forints, about 2.6 million euros, and 1.2 million dollars during searches conducted across Budapest and three Hungarian counties, according to Associated Press reporting cited by 24chasa.bg.
The police action forms part of a criminal investigation into Miklós Seszták, who served as minister of national development in Viktor Orbán’s third government from 2014 to 2018, as detailed by segabg.com. Investigators suspect Seszták of receiving more than 37.2 million dollars in bribes and illegal kickbacks linked to public construction projects and vehicle procurements for the state bus company, according to Associated Press.
Police detained Seszták on September 28, and the Central District Court of Buda ordered his arrest on September 30, making him the first Hungarian minister arrested since the end of communism in 1990, segabg.com reported. His detention has been extended until January 30, 2027. Seszták denies all allegations, claiming he never held such sums and that two large safes found empty during prior searches contained only documents.
Prime Minister Péter Magyar said that 12 state treasury employees spent eight hours counting the seized banknotes using five currency-counting machines, according to Associated Press. Footage released by the Asset Recovery Office and highlighted by dnevnik.bg shows investigators unearthing buried cash, opening cardboard boxes filled with stacks of bills, and organizing the vast sum.
“Today was the last day of the criminal organization Fidesz, which existed for 38 years,” Magyar wrote on Facebook, as translated by dnevnik.bg. “A fallen mafia boss.”
The ongoing anti-corruption sweep has extended beyond Seszták to other prominent figures from the former administration, Euronews Bulgaria reported. Police detained the former prime minister’s younger brother, Áron Orbán, on Monday as part of an investigation into alleged human trafficking and trading in influence, according to Associated Press.
Several other high-ranking officials from the Orbán era, including former central bank governor György Matolcsy, are also in custody under suspicion of fraud and corruption, segabg.com noted.
Former Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, whose right-wing Fidesz party suffered a heavy defeat in April elections to Magyar’s pro-European TISA party, condemned the raids and arrests, Associated Press reported. Orbán denounced the proceedings as a form of political tyranny designed to remove him from the political arena.
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