Corruption: 19.5 million dollars in cash found in Hungary
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Al Jazeera
Hungarian investigators have found 19.5 million dollars in cash in forests and farm buildings, as part of an inquiry into Miklos Sesztak, former Development minister under Viktor Orbán. Suspected of receiving more than 37.2 million dollars in bribes, he is the subject of an investigation by a Hungarian asset recovery agency, according to Al Jazeera.
Hungarian investigators found 19.5 million dollars in cash during searches carried out on 12 and 13 November in Budapest and in three other regions of the country. The National Asset Recovery and Protection Office, an agency set up to investigate suspected embezzlement of public funds, announced this in a statement published late on Friday.
Part of the sum was buried in forests, and the agency released footage of officers digging at night. The banknotes, in forints, euros and dollars, were found in farm buildings, warehouses, a house and a safe. Finance Minister András Kármán wrote on Facebook that twelve Treasury officials spent eight hours counting the money.
The investigation targets Miklós Seszták, Development minister from 2014 to 2018, who is suspected of having received more than 37.2 million dollars in bribes linked to the purchase of overpriced second-hand buses and to public works. He was taken into police custody in September and denies the allegations.
Prime Minister Péter Magyar, whose Tisza party, centre-right and pro-European, ended Viktor Orbán’s sixteen years in power in April, says this recovery marks the end of what he calls the “Fidesz-KDNP mafia”. Orbán accuses the new government of using these investigations to push him out of political life. On 9 November, Viktor Orbán’s brother taken into custody had already been detained.
A Median poll published this week by the website HVG shows that 70% of respondents say it is necessary to investigate alleged corruption under Orbán.
