Hungarian investigators have recovered nearly $20 million in cash — some of it buried in forests, the rest hidden in farm buildings, warehouses and a house — in a bribery investigation into Miklós Seszták, a former minister in Viktor Orbán’s government.
The National Asset Recovery and Protection Office said late on Friday that the haul included 5.07 billion forints ($15.33 million), €2.66 million ($2.93 million) and $1.26 million in US currency. A dozen State Treasury workers spent eight hours counting the money with five banknote counters, Finance Minister András Kármán said.
Seszták served as Orbán’s development minister from 2014 to 2018. He has denied wrongdoing. His lawyer, Gábor Papp, did not respond to an emailed request for comment on the recovery office’s statement.
The recovery is the latest turn in the sweeping anti-corruption drive launched by Prime Minister Péter Magyar, who ousted Orbán after 16 years in power in an April election. Magyar has called the campaign “Operation Purgatory” and has pledged to mend Hungary’s relations with the European Union after years of conflict under Orbán.
Two former ministers from Orbán’s government and the former central bank chief, György Matolcsy, are already under arrest in separate graft investigations. All have denied wrongdoing. Authorities have also detained Orbán’s brother in a people-smuggling case, which the former leader dismissed as political revenge.
Magyar said the recovered cash signalled the end of what he called a “mafia” led by Orbán’s right-wing Fidesz party and its Christian Democrat allies during 16 years in power. Political scientist Gábor Török said the vivid images of the piles of cash were likely to damage Fidesz further: the party’s public support has halved to 16% of voters by November, according to a Median survey.
The drive is popular with voters: 70% of respondents in the Median poll, published on news site HVG this week, described it as “very important”. This account rests on a single source, Reuters’ report of the recovery office’s statement and the finance minister’s remarks; the figures and claims have not been independently verified by The Hourly News.
Sources: Reuters — “Hungary recovers $20 million cash in probe of Orban minister”, https://www.reuters.com/world/hungary-recovers-20-million-cash-probe-orban-minister-2026-11-14/
