Hungarian authorities recover $18 million in cash during investigation into Orbán-era minister

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Hungarian authorities said Friday that they'd recovered about $18 million in hidden cash, some of which they found buried underground, as part of an investigation into an ex-minister who served under former Prime Minister Viktor Orbán .

The National Asset Recovery and Protection Office said it had discovered “large quantities of cash buried in forests, concealed in agricultural buildings, warehouses and a residential property, and stored in a high-value safe in a hidden location,” according to a statement Friday.

Among the recovered cash was more than 5 billion forints, some 2.6 million euros and $1.2 million — worth around $18.1 million in total.

The discovery of the cash came after a two-day search in the capital of Budapest and in three Hungarian counties, said the National Asset Recovery and Protection Office, which was recently set up by Hungary’s new government.

The office holds investigative and prosecutorial powers to pursue cases of misused public funds and suspected corruption that Orbán's critics say was rampant during his 16 years in office.

The seizure was part of criminal proceedings against former National Development Minister Miklós Seszták, who served under Orbán. He is suspected of accepting more than $37.2 million in bribes and kickbacks connected to vehicle procurements under Hungary’s state bus company as well as through state construction projects.

Seszták was taken into police custody in late September.

A video posted to Facebook by the National Asset Recovery and Protection Office showed images of investigators kneeling next to extensive piles of bundled cash, as well as of shovels breaking ground in what appeared to be a forest at night.

On Friday evening, Prime Minister Péter Magyar, who has vowed to pursue accountability for suspected corruption during Orbán's rule and recover misused public assets, said 12 employees of the Hungarian State Treasury spent eight hours counting the recovered cash using five money-counting machines.

He said the discovery “officially marks the end of the Fidesz-KDNP mafia,” referring to Orbán's former ruling coalition.

“As of today, Viktor Orbán is a proven mafia boss. A fallen mafia boss. And Fidesz is a criminal organization,” Magyar wrote on Facebook.

The discovery was the latest development in the government's efforts to crack down on suspected abuses committed during Orbán's tenure. On Monday, police took Orbán's younger brother into custody as part of a probe into suspected human trafficking and influence peddling.

Several other Orbán-era officials, including the former governor of the Central Bank , are also in police detention on suspicion of fraud and corruption crimes.

Last month, the Central Investigative Prosecutor’s Office said that the detention of the bank governor, György Matolcsy, was related to alleged misuse of a central bank foundation that was endowed with 288 billion forints ($817.8 million) in public assets.

Orbán, whose far-right Fidesz lost to Magyar's center-right, pro-European Tisza party in a landslide election in April, has decried the investigations and detentions as political “tyranny” designed to sweep him off the political playing field.