Viktor Orbán was behind decision to detain Ukrainian cash couriers, newly surfaced document suggests

The law firm representing the Ukrainian cash transporters involved in the so-called “cash convoy” case received additional documentation from the Budapest Investigative Prosecutor’s Office last Friday. According to a statement released by the Dr. Lóránt Horváth Law Office on Monday, it was among these that they came across a prosecutor’s memo.

The memo in question describes a meeting that took place on June 22, during which staff members of the Investigative Prosecutor’s Office met with national security colonel Dr. István Szathmáry, a department head at the Office for the Protection of the Constitution (AH). István Szathmáry is the brother of Zoltán Szathmáry, whom President András Baka recently nominated to be chief prosecutor.

According to a prosecutor’s memo about the June 22 meeting, Dr. István Szathmáry stated that the Ministry of the Interior had investigated the case of the cash convoy prior to the parliamentary elections, so still at the time of the previous government. According to the memo, Szathmáry told the prosecutors that during the investigation underway at that time, he had appeared before the investigative committee on several occasions on behalf of the AH, accompanying Örs Farkas, who was State Secretary for National Security at the time.

Szathmáry said that they had presented the investigative committee with a chart detailing the dates and grounds for the detention of the individuals who had been apprehended, as well as that the investigative committee was looking into whose decision had led to the operation.

“It was at this time that former police Lieutenant General János Hajdú once stated before the investigative committee that there was no point in investigating this matter, since everyone knows that the arrest took place based on the decision of a person who cannot be implicated in the case—referring to former prime minister Dr. Viktor Orbán,”

the prosecutor's memo states. According to the memo, István Szathmáry said that it was obvious to everyone present that János Hajdú was referring to the former prime minister.

Over the course of the summer, the prosecutor’s office charged János Hajdú in connection with the case. The Prosecutor’s Office charged Hajdú with seven counts of unlawful detention involving the mistreatment of the victim, but he filed an objection to the charges and did not admit to having committed the crimes.

In his speech at the Bálványos Free Summer University in July, Viktor Orbán portrayed János Hajdu as a hero because—and this is a quote from the former prime minister—“he stopped, coordinated, and carried out the operation that put a halt to what had become an intolerable flood of Russian bla… —excuse me, Ukrainian black money—and other gold shipments passing through Hungary.”

In response to Orbán’s remarks, Hajdu’s defense attorney told Telex at the time that “any statement that presents the public with inaccurate or incomplete information—rather than facts that have already been uncovered or may yet be uncovered—hinders the uncovering of the objective truth and its proper assessment under criminal law.”

On March 5, operatives of the Counterterrorism Center (Terrorelhárítási Központ-TEK) detained seven Ukrainian citizens near Budapest and seized gold and foreign currency worth more than 27 billion forints (nearly 73 million 600 thousand euros) from the CIT vehicles they were escorting. According to the Prosecutor's Office, they acted in response to a tip. It was later revealed that the source of the tip was one of the Hungarian intelligence agencies, the Constitutional Protection Office, which was prompted by information gathered from another agency, the Information Office. Telex was the first to report that it was Viktor Orbán who had decided to intercept the Ukrainian “gold convoy,” and even the timing of the raid was decided at the highest levels of government.

Our paper was also the first to report that the brother of Zoltán Szathmáry, who has been nominated for the position of chief prosecutor, was recently charged by the prosecutor’s office in connection with the case of the Ukrainian cash transport. The former head of the legal department at the AH is suspected of seven counts of falsification of public documents. According to our information, as department head at the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, he was responsible for arranging the bans on entry and residence for the detained Ukrainians at the 10th District Police Station.

After President András Baka nominated Zoltán Szathmáry for the position of chief prosecutor, the Tisza Party was “tipped off” about the identity of the nominee’s brother and the charges against him. According to our information, it was this that led to Péter Magyar’s decision not to support Baka’s nominee. Baka, however, has indicated that he stands by his nominee.