Hungarian authorities have recovered nearly $20 million in cash in a bribery investigation into Miklos Sesztak, a minister under former prime minister Viktor Orban.
The cash was found buried in forests, hidden in farm buildings, warehouses and a residential property, and stored in a high-value safe, according to the National Asset Recovery and Protection Office, which announced the recovery late on Friday.
The haul totalled 5.07 billion forints ($15.33 million), 2.66 million euros ($2.93 million) and $1.26 million. A dozen State Treasury workers took eight hours to count it using five banknote counters, Finance Minister Andras Karman said.
Sesztak was Orban’s development minister between 2014 and 2018 and has denied wrongdoing.
The recovery comes after Prime Minister Peter Magyar ousted Orban after 16 years in power in an April election, pledging to mend ties with the EU and launch a sweeping anti-corruption drive dubbed “Operation Purgatory”. Two other former ministers from Orban’s government and former central bank chief Gyorgy Matolcsy are under arrest over graft accusations in separate investigations; they have denied wrongdoing.
Magyar said the recovered cash signalled the end of what he described as a “mafia” led by Orban’s Fidesz party. A Median survey showed Fidesz public support halved to 16% of voters by November.
Source: Reuters
