Hungarian authorities say they found nearly $20 million in cash hidden in farm buildings, warehouses, safes and woodlands during a two-day search in an investigation of Miklós Seszták, a former minister under Viktor Orbán, the BBC reported. Seszták served as minister of national development for four years of Orbán's 16-year rule and is accused of accepting bribes in a scheme involving the state transport company. He has denied any wrongdoing. The National Asset Recovery and Protection Office, or NVVH, said the cash amounted to 5,071,632,000 forints, 2,658,350 euros and $1,257,100, a combined value of $19.5 million, and that it has been deposited in the Hungarian State Treasury. After the search, Prime Minister Péter Magyar, who unseated Orbán in a landslide in April on an anti-corruption pledge, described the find as the end of the "mafia."
The NVVH was set up to investigate allegations of corruption from the Orbán years, a drive Magyar has called "Operation Purgatory." Allegations of cronyism dogged Orbán's tenure, which the European Union characterized as an "electoral autocracy," including claims that lucrative government projects went to allies. Orbán has strongly denied those claims. Two of his former ministers, including Seszták, and former central bank chief György Matolcsy have been under arrest since September in separate graft investigations. They all deny wrongdoing. On Monday, authorities also detained Orbán's brother and three others in a people-smuggling case. The former prime minister called that case 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."
The cash discovery is an investigative seizure described by the asset-recovery office, not a completed criminal conviction of Seszták, who denies the bribery allegations. Magyar's "end of the mafia" line is a political characterization of a search, not a court verdict. The $19.5 million figure is the office's own combined conversion of forint, euro and dollar notes found in multiple locations, not a single buried hoard in one place.
The verified news is a reported $19.5 million seizure, the official currency breakdown, and the accusations and denials around a former Orbán minister. It is not a finding of guilt, and it is not a recovery of that sum from Orbán personally. Magyar had promised "regime change" and has moved to undo many Orbán-era policies since taking office, which is the political backdrop for the NVVH searches and for Orbán's charge that the cases are aimed at eliminating an opponent, a dispute the cash seizure does not, by itself, settle in court.