The Fidesz party claims that the “Ukrainian mafia” is paying dozens of people in Hungary who have already infiltrated state institutions. The opposition party also said that people allegedly “paid by Ukrainians” and making false accusations would eventually face legal consequences.

Fidesz made the claims in a statement sent to the Hungarian News Agency (MTI) on Tuesday, accusing the “Ukrainian mafia” of transferring huge amounts of money through Hungary without restraint.

According to the party, Hungarian authorities put an end to this activity under the previous “national government”, and therefore deserve recognition rather than accusations. Fidesz added that the authorities would receive this recognition once the party “restores the rule of law in Hungary”.

USD 40 million and EUR 35 million in cash, plus gold, seized

According to the MTI report, officers from the National Tax and Customs Administration (NAV) and the Counter-Terrorism Centre (TEK) seized two vehicles on the M0 motorway on 5 March on suspicion of money laundering.

The vehicles, owned by Ukraine’s Oschadbank, were reportedly transporting USD 40 million and EUR 35 million in cash, as well as 9 kilograms of gold, from Austria’s Raiffeisen Bank to Ukraine.

The seven-member, unarmed crew was questioned the following day and subsequently expelled from Hungary. They later filed complaints alleging inhumane treatment and violations of their rights.

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Former prosecutor says ‘gold convoy’ case was politically created

Pál Fürcht, former head of the Central Chief Prosecutor’s Office for Investigations, also commented on the case on Tuesday in an open letter published on the Facebook page of authorised lawyer Lóránt Horváth.

Fürcht wrote that experienced prosecutors at the Budapest Investigative Prosecutor’s Office concluded in May, based on the evidence collected up to that point, that the so-called “gold convoy case” was a case created for political reasons.

According to Fürcht, the investigation at the time indicated that then-Prime Minister Viktor Orbán himself had instructed the intelligence services on 3 March to arrest the Ukrainian cash couriers on 5 March. (Read more details HERE.)

He claimed that, while carrying out the task allegedly set by politicians, the intelligence service consulted a department head at the Office of the Prosecutor General on 4 March, as well as the Prosecutor General himself.

Fürcht said that on 5 March, the intelligence service’s criminal complaint reached the investigative authorities within a record four to five hours, instead of the three-day period provided by law. He said this happened with the involvement of the Prosecutor General, the deputy Prosecutor General and another senior prosecutor.

The complaint reportedly came with an instruction from the prosecution service that an investigation had to be launched.

According to Fürcht, even this process was almost too slow, as the operation against the alleged gold convoy was already well underway.

He argued that if the leadership of the Office of the Prosecutor General had sent the instruction to launch the investigation even half a day later, the Ukrainian cash couriers would already have safely returned home and the task allegedly set by the prime minister could not have been carried out.

The Fidesz statement and Fürcht’s open letter offer different interpretations of the background to the case. The claims made public so far do not in themselves establish that “Ukrainian mafia” operatives had infiltrated Hungarian state institutions, or that the people referred to by Fidesz had made false accusations.

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