Hungary seizes $19.5m in cash found buried in forests amid graft inquiry

Hungary’s anti-corruption agency said on Friday it had seized cash worth $19.5m (£14.8m) buried in forests and hidden elsewhere while investigating an ex-minister of nationalist former leader Viktor Orbán’s cabinet.

Miklós Seszták, Hungary’s minister of national development between 2014 and 2018, is accused of taking bribes in a scheme involving the state transport company, purchasing secondhand buses at inflated prices.

The prime minister, Péter Magyar, won a landslide election victory in April, ending Orbán’s 16 years in power after promising to investigate alleged corruption and abuse of office during his rival’s rule.

Seszták, two other Orbán-era ministers and the former premier’s brother have been taken into custody in different cases as graft inquiries have gathered pace in recent weeks.

The National Asset Recovery and Protection Office (NVVH), an anti-graft body with sweeping powers established as part of Magyar’s accountability drive, said it searched several locations on Thursday and Friday as part of the criminal proceedings against Seszták.

“During the search, investigators found large amounts of cash: buried in forests, hidden in agricultural and warehouse buildings as well as residential properties, and stored in high-value safes in secluded locations,” the statement said.

“The total amount of cash found during the two-day search was 5,071,632,000 forints, €2,658,350 and US $1,257,100,” it added, bringing the combined value to $19.5m.

NVVH said its staff deposited the cash into the Hungarian State Treasury’s account.

“Upon receipt, 12 Treasury employees spent 8 hours counting the money using 5 counting machines,” the finance minister, András Kármán, said on Facebook.

Magyar hailed the seizure as a potential turning point.

“This officially marks the end of the Fidesz-KDNP mafia!” he said in reference to Orbán’s former governing coalition.

The former leader did not react to the latest development. Orbán had previously denounced the probes targeting his inner circle as “political persecution” aimed at imprisoning him.