Is an enigmatic Hungarian businessman the world’s 36th wealthiest person with EUR 34.35 billion?
The unknown Hungarian businessman’s wealth is 1.5 times bigger than the first 100 wealthiest Hungarians, including PM Orbán’s friend, Lőrinc Mészáros. He is Europe’s fifth wealthiest person and the 36th in the world. Typing mistake or real wealth is behind János György T.?
Typing mistake or existing money?
János György T. owns two companies having billions of euros. For comparison, the Hungarian government is struggling with Brussels for a similar amount of money for Hungary’s development between 2021 and 2027. The two companies submitted a one-page report saying that both firms are hybernated. That means they do not have income or expenditures. Therefore, they do not pay taxes, G7.hu found.
Journalists at the online news outlet thought Donor Ltd. made a typing mistake of three magnitudes. Such mistakes are rare but happen sometimes if the accountants write data in forint instead of thousand forints in relevant charts. Donor Ltd. is unknown even to journalists, but based on their 2023 report, they had HUF 6,534 billion (EUR 16.62 billion). That means they are in Hungary’s top 10.
The company was founded only in November 2023, and its seat is in a twin house in Budapest’s 14th district.
The company’s sole owner increased capital by HUF 4,532 billion last December. G7 excluded a typing mistake because the relevant paper contains the number and the written sum. Furthermore, there are documents confirming that the owner transferred the money to the firm account. Moreover, the company has a long-term liability of HUF 2002 billion, coming from one stockholder. That means the enigmatic owner of the company put more than HUF 6,500 billion into the company last year.
The wealthiest Hungarian?
The owner has another company, the Brasil Államkötvény Hasznosító Ltd. The documents here also contain the written sums and show that the company had HUF 6,956 billion (EUR 17.7 billion) in 2023. The capital increase in that case was HUF 5,099 billion, while the long-term liability provided by the owner was HUF 1,857 billion.
The sole shareholder put HUF 13.5 thousand billion (EUR 34.35 billion) into the two companies. The wealth of Lőrinc Mészáros, believed to be the richest Hungarian, did not reach HUF 1,000 billion. MOL’s market capitalisation is only HUF 5,194 billion, while the Hungarian budget deficit stands at HUF 5,018 billion.
The Brasil Államkötvény Hasznosító Ltd. keeps the money in Brasilian state bonds, just like Donor Ltd. The expiration date is 2036. G7 could not find Brazilian state bonds with that expiration. But if the company documents are real (and a lawyer countersigned them), the Hungarian owner is one of the South American country’s biggest creditors, holding 2.5% of the entire Brazilian debt.
The only shareholder of the two companies is János György T., a Hungarian businessman living in Malta. He is enigmatic, but his name emerged in the Paradise Papers, containing 13.4 million documents of offshore investments.
Neither he nor his lawyer answered G7’s questions.
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