Hungary Raids Orbán Party Data Center In Major Corruption Probe

by Stefan J. Bos, Worthy News Europe Bureau Chief reporting from Budapest, Hungary

BUDAPEST (Worthy News) – Hungarian authorities on Tuesday raided a data center used by former Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz party in a major corruption investigation into the alleged misuse of public funds during his 16 years in office.

Prosecutors said the raid is linked to an investigation into the suspected misuse of grants distributed through Hungary’s National Cultural Fund during Orbán’s administration.

Fidesz said investigators arrived without prior notice and attempted to seize the party’s communications system and databases, describing the operation as political intimidation.

The opposition party stressed that “tyranny has reached a new low today” and vowed it would not be intimidated or back down in its opposition to Prime Minister Péter Magyar’s governing Tisza Party. Fidesz compared the raids to the communist regime that ended in 1990.

Magyar said he first learned of the raid through reports from Fidesz and was awaiting an official briefing from prosecutors before commenting further.

CORRUPTION INVESTIGATION

Marianna Bodó, spokesperson for the Bács-Kiskun County Chief Prosecutor’s Office, said the operation was carried out with the assistance of a regional criminal directorate of Hungary’s National Tax and Customs Administration (NAV).

She said the investigation concerns the alleged misuse of some 17 billion forints (about $53.5 million) through the National Cultural Fund.

Six current and former officials have been charged in the case. Prosecutors allege grants were distributed in a non-transparent manner to artists and performers linked to Fidesz, with some recipients actively campaigning for the party ahead of Hungary’s April parliamentary election. All of those charged have denied wrongdoing.

Officials declined to disclose further details, saying additional information could not be released in the interests of the ongoing investigation.

The probe follows the earlier arrest of a former Fidesz mayor as authorities widen their investigation into the alleged misuse of public funds.

FIDESZ DENOUNCES RAID

Fidesz said investigators attempted to confiscate all of the party’s digital communications and data infrastructure.

“There has been no precedent for this in Hungary since the end of Communism in 1990,” the party said in a statement.

It added that it would not be intimidated by what it called political or legal pressure and pledged to continue resisting the “violent tyranny” of Prime Minister Péter Magyar’s Tisza Party.

Orbán and Fidesz governed Hungary for 16 years before suffering a landslide election defeat in April. During those years, critics—including the European Union, opposition parties and anti-corruption organizations—repeatedly accused the government of overseeing widespread corruption, weakening democratic institutions and undermining the rule of law. Orbán and Fidesz consistently rejected those allegations.

EU FUNDING PRESSURE

Magyar, who took office in May after defeating Orbán’s Fidesz party in April’s parliamentary election, has pledged to root out corruption and dismantle what he calls the former government’s entrenched political and economic network.

He is also under pressure from the European Union to implement anti-corruption and rule-of-law reforms before an Aug. 31 deadline as Hungary seeks to unlock €16.4 billion ($19.1 billion) in frozen or delayed EU funding.

The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, has stressed that any release of the money depends on Hungary meeting agreed reform benchmarks.

The latest raid marks one of the most significant law-enforcement actions targeting Fidesz since the party lost power, further escalating political tensions as prosecutors continue their investigation.

The raid comes amid broader political turmoil in Hungary, which is currently without a permanent head of state after President Tamás Sulyok left office. Parliament Speaker Ágnes Forsthoffer is serving as interim president until lawmakers elect a successor.

UNCERTAINTY SEEN DEEPENING

The uncertainty deepened after Hungarian chess grandmaster Judit Polgár, widely regarded as the strongest female chess player in history, on Monday formally declined Prime Minister Péter Magyar’s invitation to become Hungary’s next president.

She said she did not feel able to shoulder the “historic responsibility” of uniting a divided nation.

However, her decision came hours after it emerged that a company linked to the Judit Polgár Chess Foundation had received nearly 700 million forints (about $2.2 million) in state funding from the previous government of former Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.

The funding, approved in 2021, was awarded to JPF World Kft., a company of the Judit Polgár Chess Foundation, to expand the Chess Palace educational program, Worthy News learned.

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