The operation, conducted on 12 and 13 November across Budapest and the counties of Pest, Békés, and Nógrád, resulted in the recovery of 5,071,632,000 Hungarian forints, €2,658,350, and $1,257,100. Police described the cash as having been discovered buried underground, concealed in agricultural buildings and warehouses, hidden inside a residential property, and stored in a safe at a secluded location. The funds were subsequently transferred to the Hungarian State Treasury.
The investigation centers on Miklós Seszták, who served as minister of national development between 2014 and 2018. A senior figure in the Christian Democratic People’s Party (KDNP), Seszták’s parliamentary immunity was lifted on 28 September, following which he was taken into custody. Investigators suspect that Seszták and Norbert Szivek, the former chief executive of Hungary’s National Asset Management Company, received more than 11 billion forints in illicit payments through an intermediary between 2015 and 2018. The probe also encompasses suspected bribery associated with construction contracts and sporting infrastructure projects, specifically involving Volánbusz, Hungary’s state-owned bus operator.
Seszták has denied committing any criminal offences. During an earlier search of his residence in Kisvárda, investigators found two empty industrial safes, each weighing approximately 1.66 tonnes. Authorities suspect these had previously contained substantial quantities of cash, a claim disputed by Seszták’s lawyer. A Budapest court has extended the former minister’s pre-trial detention until 30 January 2027. Legal experts note that while the discovery of the cash is significant, it does not in itself establish the criminal origin of the funds or Seszták’s guilt; those determinations remain for judicial proceedings.
This prosecution runs in parallel with the detention of Áron Orbán, the younger brother of former Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. On 11 November, a Budapest court ordered the detention of Áron Orbán and his partner for one month in connection with a separate investigation into suspected assistance in the illegal transportation of Vietnamese nationals to Western Europe. Police raids linked to this case targeted properties associated with Áron Orbán’s business associates. Authorities confirmed the detention of four people suspected of people smuggling, though local media reported that police initially did not confirm whether Áron Orbán was among those detained in the initial raids.
Viktor Orbán, whose staunch opposition to immigration defined his tenure, has strongly rejected the charges against his brother. In a post on X, he accused Prime Minister Péter Magyar’s government of “political persecution,” stating: “I am the real target. My younger brother is simply being used to get to me.” Orbán argued that the arrests were designed to “divert attention” from other issues. Notably, news of Áron Orbán’s arrest was first reported by Kontroll, a news site owned by Magyar’s brother, Márton, which adds a layer of scrutiny to the narrative surrounding the new administration’s media landscape.
Péter Magyar, who won a landslide election victory in April ending Fidesz’s 16-year hold on power, has made investigating alleged corruption under the previous administration a central objective of his mandate. His government established the NVVH to provide investigators with additional institutional capacity to pursue suspected financial crimes and recover assets. Magyar welcomed Friday’s announcement, presenting the discovery as evidence of systemic corruption within the former governing coalition.
The implications of these proceedings extend beyond domestic politics, affecting Hungary’s relationship with the European Union. For years, the European Commission expressed concerns about public procurement, conflicts of interest, and the limited number of successful prosecutions involving senior Hungarian officials. These concerns contributed to the suspension of billions of euros in European funding under the EU’s rule-of-law conditionality mechanism. While the Commission’s 2026 Rule of Law Report acknowledged substantial reform efforts by the new government, it identified the absence of a convincing record of successful high-level corruption prosecutions as a continuing problem.
In September, the Commission proposed releasing €4.2 billion in cohesion funding and restoring Hungary’s full access to the Erasmus+ and Horizon Europe programmes. However, analysts suggest that the credibility of Hungary’s reforms will depend on their implementation and the independence of the institutions responsible for enforcing them. The recovery of millions in cash provides investigators with potentially significant evidence, but establishing the origin of those funds and securing legally sustainable judgments will be the more consequential test for the new government. The challenge lies in demonstrating that political accountability can be pursued through independent judicial proceedings rather than through political instruments.
The next formal step in the Seszták case involves ongoing judicial proceedings to determine the legality of the seized assets and the charges of corruption. Meanwhile, the defense for Áron Orbán is expected to challenge the evidence regarding the people smuggling allegations, with the case set to proceed through the Budapest courts.
