Hungary Unearths Nearly $20 Million in Hidden Cash in Corruption Investigation

Hungary’s new government is examining alleged corruption from former Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s era, as an ex-minister faces a bribery probe.

Hungarian investigators have recovered about $19.5 million in hidden cash, including bundles reportedly dug from forests, during a corruption probe involving a former minister.

The National Asset Recovery and Protection Office, a newly established agency responsible for investigating suspected misuse of public funds, said Friday that searches took place on November 12 and 13 in Budapest and several other parts of Hungary.

The agency said the operation recovered Hungarian forints, euros and U.S. dollars from farm buildings, warehouses, a home and “a high-value safe in a secluded location,” as well as from beneath the ground in forests. It released footage showing officers conducting outdoor searches after dark and examining piles of cash, which were later deposited with the state treasury.

Finance Minister Andras Karman said on Facebook on Friday that 12 treasury employees spent eight hours counting the cash.

The discovery came amid an investigation into Miklos Sesztak, Hungary’s development minister from 2014 to 2018, who is suspected of receiving more than $37.2 million in bribes and kickbacks tied to overpriced secondhand bus purchases by a state transport company and government construction projects. He was detained in September and denies wrongdoing.

Prime Minister Peter Magyar, whose centre-right, pro-European Tisza party ended Orban’s 16 years in power in April, said on Facebook on Friday that the recovery signaled the end of what he called the “Fidesz-KDNP mafia.” Fidesz is Orban’s right-wing party, while KDNP, the Christian Democratic People’s Party, was its smaller governing ally.

Orban has previously accused the new government of using the investigations to force him out of politics.

Other former ministers have been arrested in separate cases, as has Gyorgy Matolcsy, the former governor of Hungary’s central bank, which sets monetary policy. His case concerns alleged misuse of public assets held by a central bank foundation. Matolcsy has denied wrongdoing.

A survey published this week by Hungarian news website HVG, citing polling by Median, suggested that 70 percent of respondents considered investigating suspected corruption under Orban and holding those responsible accountable very important.

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