Viktor Orbán’s brother has been detained over a people-smuggling charge on Monday, announced Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar.
Viktor Orbán’s brother, Áron Orbán, has been taken into custody on suspicion of people smuggling, Péter Magyar said on his Facebook page on Monday.
The prime minister wrote that the authorities are continuing the investigation, within the framework of which Áron Orbán may have been taken into custody.
Pro-EU conservative Magyar won a landslide election victory in April to end 16 years in power for Orban, promising to investigate alleged corruption and abuse of office during his rival’s rule.
Former Prime Minister Orban called the detention a “dirty game”, accusing the government of trying to eliminate its political opponents. “I am the target; my brother is merely a tool,” he wrote on Facebook.
On Monday morning, the National Asset Recovery and Protection Office (NVVH), an anti-graft body with sweeping powers established as part of Magyar’s accountability drive, said that several people had been apprehended in a people-smuggling case in Budapest and Pest County.
In the operation, arrests and house searches are taking place at several locations in Budapest and Pest County. Investigators from the joint operation of the National Bureau of Investigation (NNI) and the NVVH are simultaneously carrying out investigative actions in two ongoing criminal proceedings. They said that details of the offences and of the investigative actions are expected to be made public soon.
Two suspects already arrested in April
On 24 April, the Central Chief Prosecution Office for Investigation (KNYF) said that the Buda Central District Court had ordered the arrest for one month of two suspects in a case related to labour hire.
The KNYF questioned four people as suspects on charges of the felony of influence peddling and other offences, and ultimately ordered the detention of two of the suspects.
On 28 September, the NVVH announced that it had taken four cases into its own competence, the first of which was “selling political connections to obtain residence permits for the purpose of employment.”
According to the statement at the time, the case was opened over influence peddling and other offences. Reports say a group closely linked to leading political figures undertook, in exchange for financial consideration, that those who arranged the issuance of residence permits for employment through them would in any event receive the necessary visas.
Áron Orbán and the visas for Vietnamese nationals
According to the information available, Áron Orbán’s company may have made it easier for Vietnamese citizens to obtain Hungarian, and thus Schengen, visas by enrolling them in a two-day course at the University of Pécs. Orbán is said to have asked a prime ministerial commissioner for help in order to speed up the visa procedures of those concerned.
In September, NVVH took over four investigations, including one related to influence-peddling that could involve Aron Orban, according to local media.
That case centres on an illicit group that allegedly promised to bypass standard administrative procedures to grant visas to foreign nationals in exchange for money.
Several investigations have gained momentum since Orban lost power.
Three ex-ministers are in custody, including former central bank governor Gyorgy Matolcsy, whom Orban once called his “right-hand” man.
Source: www.euronews.com
