Hungary has detained Áron Orbán, the younger brother of former prime minister Viktor Orbán, as part of an investigation into a suspected people-smuggling ring, Prime Minister Péter Magyar has confirmed.
Magyar announced the detention on Monday during a speech in Berlin, telling reporters that his predecessor’s brother had been taken into custody that day. “Three out of the ex-ministers of Orbán are already in custody,” he said. “Already his brother today went to custody.”
The announcement followed a statement from Hungary’s anti-graft body, the National Asset Protection and Recovery Office, which said it and police had detained four people and searched homes at several sites in Budapest and Pest county. The four are suspected of helping Vietnamese citizens reach Western Europe over several months in 2024, charging visa applicants a so-called recruitment fee at Hungary’s foreign missions in Vietnam and sharing the proceeds.
Police said the woman and three men held are suspected of “human smuggling committed as part of a criminal conspiracy for the purpose of financial gain”. The anti-graft body did not name the suspects in its statement, and police declined to identify them in response to questions from Reuters, so the identification of Áron Orbán as one of those detained rests on Magyar’s own account.
Viktor Orbán, writing on Facebook, dismissed his brother’s detention as political revenge. “In this dirty game, the aim is the elimination of the political opponent and the establishment of a one-party system. I am the target, my younger brother is just a tool,” he wrote.
The detention is the latest turn in the anti-corruption campaign launched by Magyar, who ousted Orbán in an April election after 16 years in power. The National Asset Protection and Recovery Office was set up to investigate alleged corruption during Orbán’s rule, which he has denied, and sits at the centre of a drive Magyar has dubbed “Operation Purgatory”.
In September, the body said that “selling political connections to obtain residence permits for employment” was among the first four cases it planned to investigate. Two former ministers from Orbán’s government and former central bank chief György Matolcsy are already under arrest over graft accusations in separate investigations.
Sources: Reuters — https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/hungary-detains-viktor-orbans-brother-people-smuggling-probe-pm-says-2026-11-10/
