Key facts
- The NVVH says it found 5,071,632,000 forints, €2,658,350 and US$1,257,100 across multiple sites, a combined $19.5 million.
- Miklós Seszták, national development minister from 2014 to 2018, is accused of taking bribes in the state transport company's bus purchases.
- Prime minister Péter Magyar's April election win ended Viktor Orbán's 16 years in power; Magyar promised to pursue corruption cases.
- Finance minister András Kármán said 12 Treasury staff spent 8 hours counting the cash using 5 machines.
Hungary's National Asset Recovery and Protection Office, the NVVH, said it seized cash worth $19.5 million during a two-day search in its criminal proceedings against Miklós Seszták. Seszták was Hungary's minister of national development between 2014 and 2018.
Violation of the public procurement rules and other irregularities in the state transport company's purchase of secondhand buses at inflated prices form the basis of the accusation of bribery against Seszták. Two other ministers from the Orbán era and the former prime minister's brother have been taken into custody in separate cases as graft investigations have gathered pace in recent weeks.
The NVVH said investigators found large amounts of cash in forests, where it was buried, and in agricultural buildings, warehouses, homes and high-value safes in remote locations. The office said the two-day search at multiple sites on Thursday and Friday yielded 5,071,632,000 forints, €2,658,350 and US$1,257,100, a combined $19.5 million. The office said its staff deposited the money in the Hungarian State Treasury's account.
Finance minister András Kármán said on Facebook that 12 Treasury employees needed 8 hours and 5 counting machines to count the money. Prime minister Péter Magyar, whose landslide election victory in April ended Viktor Orbán's 16 years in power, called the seizure a possible turning point: "This officially marks the end of the Fidesz-KDNP mafia!"
Orbán has not commented on the seizure. He has previously described the investigations into his inner circle as "political persecution" aimed at imprisoning him.