Former Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán denied ordering the authorities to seize two Ukrainian vehicles carrying $82 million worth of cash and gold, dismissing the claims as politically motivated. UNN reports this, citing Reuters.
Details
Seven Ukrainians who were transporting the assets were briefly detained by Hungarian authorities in March on suspicion of money laundering. The case heightened tensions between Hungary and Ukraine ahead of the April elections, which ended Orbán, an ally of Russia, 16 years in office as prime minister, the publication writes.
Ukraine's Oshchadbank said that its employees, who were transporting cash and gold from Austria to Ukraine, were involved in a routine operation similar to the one it had carried out every week since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Hungarian prosecutors launched an investigation into the handling of the case, including allegations of the unlawful detention and mistreatment of Ukrainian citizens.
In June, prosecutors named János Hajdu, the former head of Hungary's counterterrorism forces and now head of the security service of Orbán's Fidesz party, as a suspect.
Orbán was not questioned, but politicians from the ruling Tisza party called on him to say whether he had been involved.
"Viktor Orbán! Address the Hungarian people and say it clearly, directly, and in a manner worthy of a true leader: Did you order the 'gold convoy' to be stopped or not?" Defense Minister Romulus Rusin-Szendi wrote last week.
On Monday, Orbán called the transit of Ukrainian cash and gold "the biggest corruption case in Europe."
"I did not have to make specific decisions or take measures because, fortunately, the Hungarian authorities did their job of their own accord. But I would have done it anyway if they had not done so themselves," Orbán told Hir television.
"Now they want to take me to court for this? ... This has nothing to do with corruption, nothing to do with abuse of power. It is about wanting to eliminate the right wing," Orbán said.
Context
Oshchadbank reported the groundless detention of two cash-in-transit vehicles and the disappearance of seven employees in Hungary on March 5. This occurred during Viktor Orbán's tenure as Hungary's prime minister.
Later, Hungary stated that the seven Ukrainian citizens detained with cash-in-transit vehicles carrying a consignment of money and gold in Hungary had already been expelled from the country on March 6.
The National Police of Ukraine launched criminal proceedings over the abduction of Ukrainian citizens and a service vehicle belonging to JSC Oshchadbank in Hungary. The information was entered into the Unified Register of Pretrial Investigations under articles concerning unlawful deprivation of liberty and hostage-taking.
Hungary returned to Ukraine Oshchadbank's funds and valuables seized by Hungarian special services in March of this year, in early May, after the election victory of Péter Magyar, who later became Hungary's prime minister.
Oshchadbank noted that the total value of the assets held in the two cash-in-transit vehicles amounted to $40 million, €35 million, and 9 kilograms of bank gold.