Magyar accuses Orbán-linked oligarchs of moving billions abroad before handover
Hungarian oligarchs are transferring funds en masse to remote countries. (Photo: REUTERS/Bernadett Szabo)
Hungary’s incoming prime minister, Péter Magyar, said
oligarchs close to incumbent Prime Minister Viktor Orbán are transferring tens
of billions of euros to the United Arab Emirates, the United States, Uruguay
and other countries in a Facebook video
address.
Magyar, the leader of the Tisza party, claimed that several
oligarch families have already left Hungary and that the family of Lőrinc
Mészáros, a billionaire and longtime Orbán ally, is preparing to fly to Dubai
in the coming days. Citing media reports, Magyar said several powerful oligarch
families had already pulled their children out of school and hired trusted
security guards to help them leave.
Magyar urged the National Tax and Customs Administration to
immediately freeze funds he said had been illegally appropriated. He also
called on law enforcement agencies to detain oligarchs he accused of trying to
evade justice.
“I once again call on the prosecutor general, the head of
the National Police and the head of the National Tax and Customs Administration
to arrest the criminals who caused many thousands of billions of forints in
damage to the Hungarian people, and not allow them to flee to countries that do
not currently extradite suspects before the Tisza government is formed,” Magyar
said.
On April 24, Péter Tóth, the campaign chief for the new
leader and a key behind-the-scenes strategist on Magyar’s team, said Hungary’s
opposition had flash drives, audio recordings and screenshots containing
compromising evidence about the private lives and affairs of senior members of
Viktor Orbán’s government, but chose not to use them.
Hungary held parliamentary elections on April 12. The final
vote count showed Péter Magyar’s opposition Tisza party winning 141 seats in
parliament, giving it a majority.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz party won 52 seats, while Our Homeland took six.
On April 15, Magyar said Hungary’s president would ask him
to form the next government at parliament’s inaugural session.
He said one of his first steps as head of government would
be to suspend state media operations.
On April 22, it was reported that Péter Magyar will be sworn
in as Hungary’s prime minister on May 9.
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