Hungarian police seize thousands of pages of documents from ministry relating to activities under previous administration

Hungarian police have seized thousands of pages of documents as evidence from the Ministry of Economy and Energy after the ministry, headed by István Kapitány, filed a criminal complaint about activities that had taken place during the previous government’s term, police announced on Tuesday. The information was uncovered following an audit of the Hungarian Export-Import Bank (Eximbank), prompting police to launch criminal proceedings alleging abuse of office and embezzlement. Previously, in July, Prime Minister Péter Magyar announced that the Ministry of Economy and Energy had filed criminal complaints relating to four previous deals:

• A case worth 59 billion forints (nearly €161 million) related to the Sofitel hotel, a company closely linked to the business interests of István Tiborcz, Viktor Orbán's son-in-law. Apparently, the bank had made a decision-in just two days-which violated even its own internal rules. A criminal complaint has been filed on suspicion of embezzlement and other criminal offenses.
• Another case, worth 126 billion forints (nearly €343,5 million), was related to an African project of the Hungarian company Duna Aszfalt. According to Magyar, on top of this, “they were also able to secure funding from the state-owned Hungarian Development Bank”.The project in question involved the construction of an expressway between Zambia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
• The Dunakeszi Vehicle Repair Company’s project in Egypt was another one. Here, the Egyptian state railway company was granted a 176 billion forint (almost €480 million) loan from the Hungarian state.
• The fourth case concerns a 1 billion euro general-purpose loan granted to North Macedonia.