Hungary investigates whether Orbán personally ordered detention of Ukrainian bank couriers
Hungary's new government is investigating a March operation in which Ukrainian bank couriers were detained and roughly €70 million in cash and gold was seized, with testimony suggesting former PM Viktor Orbán may have personally ordered it.
Hungary's new government, led by Péter Magyar, is continuing a broad review of the previous Orbán administration's actions under a campaign called "Operation Purifying Fire." One case at the center of the probe is the March detention of couriers from Ukraine's Oschadbank, which, according to the Financial Times, could become the first criminal case brought directly against former Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.
What happened in March
On March 5, officers from Hungary's Counter-Terrorism Centre (TEK) stopped vehicles near the Austria-Hungary border that were transporting cash and gold on behalf of a Ukrainian bank from Austria to Ukraine. The vehicles were found carrying $40 million, €35 million, and nine kilograms of gold bars — a total value of roughly €70 million. Bank employees were detained and an investigation into possible money laundering was opened.
Ukraine said at the time that this was a routine banking operation that had been carried out via Hungary multiple times before. No evidence of illicit origin for the funds was found, and the seized cash and gold were later returned to Ukraine.
Suspicions about Orbán's role
Investigators are now examining whether Orbán personally ordered the detention in order to exploit the situation for political purposes. Former prosecutor Pál Fírt has claimed that the former prime minister directly instructed security services to detain the Ukrainian employees transporting the money, and that after reporting this to his superiors, he was reprimanded and later became the subject of an internal investigation himself.
A prosecutor's report published in June cited TEK chief János Hajdú as saying operation participants knew the detention decision had been made by someone who "officially could not be involved in the case" — understood to mean Orbán. Suspicions are reinforced by the fact that Orbán was at the TEK building on the day of the detention, speaking about alleged rising terrorism threats, and official photos show him alongside staff who later took part in the operation against the Ukrainian couriers.
Orbán's Fidesz party lost April's parliamentary election to Tisza, led by current Prime Minister Péter Magyar.
