Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Magyar called for the role of former Prime Minister Viktor Orban to be established in the case of the detention of Ukrainians who transported gold bars and currency through Hungary in March in an Oschadbank collection car.
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Hungary’s National Tax and Customs Office (NV) said on March 6 that it had detained seven Ukrainian citizens on suspicion of money laundering, including a former general of the Ukrainian special services responsible for transporting $40 million, 35 million euros and nine kilograms of gold from Austria to Ukraine. The detainees were deported to Ukraine on the same day. The agency launched an investigation to find out the purpose of transporting money and gold. In June, the Magyar ordered an internal investigation of the case.
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The Hungarian portal 444 on Thursday published information based on a document allegedly leaked from the Prosecutor General’s Office that Orban is among the persons whose responsibility in connection with the case of Ukrainian cash collectors should be clarified.
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“In connection with the leaked document, we expect an immediate response from the prosecutor’s office regarding whether Viktor Orban and (former head of Hungary’s Anti-Terrorism Center) Janos Hajdu have been questioned as suspects in the case of the golden convoy,” Magyar wrote on Facebook.
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Former Prime Minister Orban said that Hungary will decide the fate of the money confiscated from Ukrainians when it realizes whose it belongs to, but for now it will keep it. He also suggested that the money being transported was used to finance the Hungarian opposition.
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A former employee of the Ukrainian special services told the Hungarian media that Vladimir Zelensky sent 5 million euros in cash from the “black money” to the Hungarian opposition party Tisa every week, which he disposed of himself without official records, and funds confiscated in Hungary from among them.
