Arrest made by anti-corruption body set up to investigate alleged graft during former PM’s 16-year rule
Hungarian authorities have detained the brother of Viktor Orbán as part of a people-smuggling investigation, the prime minister, Péter Magyar, has said.
The Hungarian anti-graft body, the national asset protection and recovery office (NVVH), said in a statement it and police had detained four people and searched homes in Budapest and Pest county.
“Three ex-ministers of Orbán are already in custody,” Magyar said in Berlin, where he was giving a speech. “Already his brother today went to custody,” he added, referring to the former prime minister’s sibling, Aron, 49.
Writing on Facebook, Orbán dismissed his brother’s detention as a case of 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 former prime minister wrote.
The NVVH was set up by Magyar to investigate allegations of corruption during Orbán’s 16-year rule. The latter has denied the claims.
Magyar ousted Orbán in an April election and the NVVH is central to his government’s anti-graft campaign which he has dubbed “Operation Purgatory”.
Monday’s statement had said the four detained were suspected of helping Vietnamese citizens reach western Europe for several months in 2024.
The perpetrators charged visa applicants a “recruitment fee” at Hungary’s foreign missions in Vietnam, which they then shared, the authorities said.
The woman and three men held were suspected “of human smuggling committed as part of a criminal conspiracy for the purpose of financial gain”, police said.
In September, the NVVH said “selling political connections to obtain residence permits for employment” was among the first four cases it planned to investigate.
Two former ministers from Orban’s government and the former central bank chief György Matolcsy have been arrested over graft allegations in separate investigations.
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Source: www.theguardian.com
