Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s officially declared wealth is fairly modest: some savings and a jointly owned villa in Budapest.
However, voters in what Transparency International deems the EU’s most corrupt country believe otherwise — and they might make Orban pay in a general election this Sunday that could spell an end to his 16-year rule.
The wealth amassed by Orban’s inner circle is fueling the increasingly palpable frustration of a population grappling with sluggish growth, high inflation and worsening public services.
Photo: AFP
“The government’s communication machine worked well as long as our economic situation remained relatively good,” said Zoltan Ranschburg, a political analyst at the Republikon think tank.
However, it has not been good for years, he added.
“It’s our money, not theirs. But they are spending it as if they were the sole owners,” Gabor Szebenyi, an 81-year-old retired history teacher said at an opposition rally.
He denounced what he called “feudalism” that has taken root in the Central European country of nearly 10 million people.
Independent lawmaker Akos Hadhazy, one of Hungary’s leading anti-corruption crusaders, said graft has drained the equivalent of 2.84 billion euros (US$3.24 billion) from state coffers every year since 2016.
“These are not isolated cases — this is simply the way the system is functioning,” Hadhazy said.
While Orban claims to live modestly, several members of his family have grown spectacularly rich since his return to power in 2010.
His father, Gyozo Orban, who is 85, owns several building material companies, as well as the historic Hatvanpuszta estate he had rebuilt into a luxurious manor worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
Protected by high walls, the sprawling domain close to the premier’s home village has two swimming pools and its own wildlife park, as well as extensive outbuildings, according to drone footage published by independent media.
“In reality, the father is merely Viktor Orban’s frontman,” Hadhazy said.
Orban’s son-in-law Istvan Tiborcz has become one of Hungary’s most influential entrepreneurs through public lighting contracts won by his former company Elios. The deals were partly financed by the EU — until the EU anti-fraud office OLAF found serious irregularities.
Tiborcz has since switched to real estate and tourism.
The prime minister’s childhood friend Lorinc Meszaros, a former plumber, has become Hungary’s wealthiest man worth US$4.8 billion according to Forbes magazine, with an empire of construction, energy, banking and media firms thriving on public contracts.
“On paper there is competition [for public contracts], but in fact the winner is always known in advance,” a construction contractor said on condition of anonymity at a site near Budapest.
Working in the sector for three decades, the man said public tenders are often decided in advance.
“Those at the bottom of the chain do the work and get paid last — sometimes months later,” he said, adding that he was ready to throw in the towel and sell his machinery.
“I’m so angry,” he said.
While those in power lead “luxurious lives” and travel by private jets, small businesses “are struggling to survive,” he said.
The anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International has labeled Hungary as the EU’s most corrupt country alongside Bulgaria in its Corruption Perceptions Index.
It highlighted systemic risks in public procurement and limited competition for the largest contracts, which make up 5 percent of Hungary’s GDP.
The government rejected the ranking and insists Hungarian procurement rules comply with EU standards.
However, the EU has frozen 19 billion euros in funds destined for Hungary over persistent concerns about corruption and respect for the rule of law.
Opposition leader Peter Magyar, Orban’s top rival in the upcoming vote, has pledged to recover the funds if elected and to investigate how the current leaders and their families have grown so rich.
PHISHING: The con might appear convincing, as the scam e-mails can coincide with genuine messages from Apple saying you have run out of storage For a while you have been getting messages from Apple saying “your iCloud storage is full.” They say you have exceeded your storage plan, so documents are no longer being backed up, and photos you take are not being uploaded. You have been resisting Apple’s efforts to get you to pay a minimum of ￡0.99 (US$1.33) a month for more storage, but it seems that you cannot keep putting off the inevitable: You have received an e-mail which says your iCloud account has been blocked, and your photos and videos would be deleted very soon. To keep them you need
The Israeli military has demolished entire villages as part of its invasion of south Lebanon, rigging homes with explosives and razing them to the ground in massive remote detonations. The Guardian reviewed three videos posted by the Israeli military and on social media, which showed Israel carrying out mass detonations in the villages of Taybeh, Naqoura and Deir Seryan along the Israel-Lebanon border. Lebanese media has reported more mass detonations in other border villages, but satellite imagery was not readily available to verify these claims. The demolitions came after Israeli Minister of Defense Israel Katz called for the destruction of
A US YouTuber who caused outrage for filming himself kissing a statue commemorating Korean wartime sex slaves has been sentenced to six months in prison, a court in Seoul said yesterday. Johnny Somali, 25, gained notoriety several years ago for recording himself doing a series of provocative stunts in South Korea and Japan, and streaming them on platforms such as YouTube and Twitch. South Korean authorities indicted Somali — whose real name is Ramsey Khalid Ismael — in 2024 on public order violations and obstruction of business, and banned him from leaving the country. “The court has sentenced him to six months in
The death toll from a shooting in western Afghanistan rose to 11 on Saturday, after gunmen targeted civilians at a picnic spot in Herat, the provincial authority said. Bullet marks were visible on a wall of the Sayed Mohammad Agha Shia shrine, while bloodstains marked a blanket abandoned at the scene. “Eleven people have been recorded dead and eight others wounded from Friday’s incident, with the condition of two of the wounded reported as critical,” Herat’s information office said in a statement. The update raises a toll of seven killed provided on Friday by the Afghan Ministry of Interior Affairs
RSS