FT: Former Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban faces criminal charges over detention of “Oschadbank” collectors

The former prime minister of Hungary may face charges for the first time. Itʼs all because of the incident with the “Oschadbank” collectors, whom Hungary detained in March.

The Financial Times (FT) writes about this.

This week, former prosecutor Pal Furcht, who was leading the case at the time, wrote on Facebook that Orban “personally instructed the security services to detain Ukrainian couriers with cash”. According to Furcht, after he reported the results of the investigation to his superiors, he was punished and later put under internal investigation.

The Attorney Generalʼs Office denied that there were attempts to silence Fürcht.

The former prosecutor’s version is supported by a June report from the prosecutor’s office, obtained by FT. It quotes the head of the TEK anti-terrorist police János Hajdu, as saying that “everyone knew: the arrests were made by the decision of a person who could not be implicated in the case”, meaning Orbán, the report says.

Hajdu was removed from the TEK leadership and is now responsible for Fidesz security. He has been charged with several counts of illegal detention and ill-treatment of employees of a Ukrainian bank. Hajdu denies wrongdoing.

“This is the first case that could lead to formal indictment of Orban, as the investigation is already nearing completion, while other corruption cases involving him are at a much earlier stage,” said a lawyer representing Ukrainian citizens as well as Fürcht Lorant Horvat.

It is known that on March 5, the day the Ukrainian collectors were detained, Orban visited the TEK headquarters in Budapest. According to him, a meeting was held there regarding the “increased terrorist threat” against the backdrop of the US-Israeli strikes on Iran.

Photos and videos that Orban posted on Facebook show that some of the people who participated in the raid on the Ukrainian convoy were present at the meeting.

After that, Orban went to a business forum, and Hajdu went to a gas station on the ring road around Budapest, where TEK was already waiting for the Ukrainians.

Kidnapping of the “Oschadbank” collectors in Hungary

On the night of March 6, Oschadbank reported that seven of its collectors and two collection vehicles had been detained in Hungary. The vehicles were on a regular route between Ukraine and Austria. Hungary said it had detained the Ukrainian collectors on suspicion of money laundering.

The then Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó, commenting on the situation, said that “the question arises whether this is not money from the Ukrainian military mafia”.

Oschadbank responded by explaining that since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, all transportation of currency and banking metals has been carried out only by land. “Oschadbank” collection vehicles perform such trips every week and have a license for international transportation from the State Service for Transport Security.

On the evening of March 6, all seven collectors were deported and returned to Ukraine. The Foreign Ministry said that the men were kept in handcuffs for 28 hours and transported blindfolded. One of them felt sick and fainted.

The Guardian, citing sources in Ukrainian law enforcement agencies, wrote that Hungarian anti-terrorist police agents forcibly injected one of the collectors of “Oschadbank”. According to Ukraine, it was a relaxant designed to make a person more talkative during interrogations.

On March 10, the Hungarian government issued a special decree after the seizure of $40 million and €35 million in cash and nine-kilogram gold bars from Szabadsag Bank. The countryʼs National Tax and Customs Administration intended to hold them until the investigation was completed.

On April 8, the Hungarian National Tax and Customs Administration reported new “evidence” in the Oschadbank case and published a video featuring Ukrainian tax collectors. Hungary claimed that the video showed a former SBU major general forging documents in a gas station toilet while other tax collectors discussed “corruption money”.

“Oschadbank” denied the allegations, and the video itself shows that the phrase “It’s obvious what you’re doing” was translated into “it’s obvious corruption money”.

After the elections and the change of government in the country on May 6, Hungary returned the money to “Oschadbank".

Already on May 18, Hungary canceled the previous decisions on deportation and a three-year ban on entry to the Schengen zone for seven “Oschadbank” employees who were illegally detained in March.

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