Hungary has created an agency to recover state funds embezzled during Orbán's era - Bloomberg
Kyiv • UNN
Lawmakers approved the creation of the National Asset Recovery Agency, which has broad powers to fight corruption. The new body will combine the functions of the prosecutor's office, police, and financial investigators.
Hungary has created a powerful new agency that will be responsible for recovering misappropriated state funds, primarily those lost during the 16 years of Viktor Orbán's rule. This was reported by Bloomberg, writes UNN.
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Lawmakers approved the creation of the National Asset Recovery Agency during a vote on Tuesday. This fulfilled one of the main anti-corruption promises of Prime Minister Péter Magyar after his convincing victory in the April elections.
The agency will be a key element of the new government's efforts to hold former officials from the Orbán era accountable. During this period, Hungary fell to last place among European Union countries in Transparency International's annual Corruption Perceptions Index, prompting the EU to suspend billions of euros in funding due to corruption concerns.
Unlike anti-corruption bodies in other European countries, the new Hungarian body will combine powers that are usually distributed among the prosecutor's office, police, financial investigators, and civil courts. Among the agency's broadest powers are the right to take over corruption investigations from other bodies, access confidential financial data, and impose fines of up to 5 billion forints ($16 million) for obstructing its work.
The agency will have the authority to investigate crimes, bring charges against suspects, file civil lawsuits to recover assets, and even temporarily take control of companies suspected of holding illegally obtained state property.
It is noted that over the last decade of nationalist leader Orbán's rule, numerous business empires led by his allies emerged practically from scratch. They later became some of Hungary's largest companies in various sectors — from banking and energy to construction and tourism.
Magyar compared his government's efforts to free Hungary from Orbán's influence to Italy's fight against the mafia.