A newly surfaced prosecution document has added to allegations that former Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán personally decided to have seven Ukrainian money couriers arrested in the so-called “gold convoy” case.
What the new document says
The document was discovered by lawyers representing the Ukrainian couriers among investigative materials recently handed over by the Budapest Investigative Prosecutor’s Office (Fővárosi Nyomozó Ügyészség), Telex reported on Monday. It records a 22 June meeting between prosecutors and István Szathmáry, a national security colonel and department head at Hungary’s Constitution Protection Office (Alkotmányvédelmi Hivatal, AH).
According to the prosecutors’ note, Szathmáry described an earlier Interior Ministry investigation into the operation, conducted before the parliamentary election. During that investigation, former police lieutenant-general János Hajdu reportedly told a committee that
“…examining who had ordered the arrests was pointless because everyone knew the decision had been made by a person who could not be involved in the case.”
The document says those present understood Hajdu to have been referring to Viktor Orbán. The account is therefore evidence of what Szathmáry told prosecutors about a previous investigation, rather than a direct record of Orbán giving such an order. Telex has previously reported, citing multiple sources familiar with the case, that Orbán decided the Ukrainian convoy should be targeted and that the timing of the operation also came from the government.
The March operation
The incident took place on 5 March, when counter-terrorism officers arrested seven Ukrainian citizens and seized gold and foreign currency worth more than HUF 27 billion (more than EUR 73.4 million) from their vehicles. According to the prosecution, the operation followed a criminal complaint. It later emerged that the complaint had been filed by the AH, based on information gathered by another intelligence agency, the Information Office (Információs Hivatal, IH).
The case subsequently expanded into an investigation into the legality of the arrests and the actions of officials involved. Hajdu, the former head of the Counter Terrorism Centre (Terrorelhárítási Központ, TEK), has been suspected of seven counts of unlawful detention allegedly involving mistreatment. He has denied committing a crime and challenged the allegation. Orbán subsequently praised Hajdu in a speech at Tusnádfürdő, describing him as a hero for stopping what he characterised as Ukrainian “black money” and gold transfers through Hungary.
More on the case: Top prosecutor resigns in Hungary over handling of Ukraine cash-and-gold convoy case
Wider questions over the investigation
The newly surfaced document comes amid growing scrutiny of the prosecution’s handling of the case. Former Central Investigative Prosecutor Pál Fürcht resigned in June after disagreements over the investigation. In a resignation statement, he alleged that politically sensitive investigations, including the gold convoy case, had been subjected to improper influence. The Office of the Prosecutor General rejected his claims, describing them as factually untrue.
The gold convoy case has also become politically significant because István Szathmáry is the brother of Zoltán Szathmáry, whom President András Baka nominated for the position of Prosecutor General. Telex has reported that Zoltán Szathmáry himself was questioned as a suspect in the gold convoy investigation over alleged document forgery. The latest document does not, by itself, establish that Orbán personally issued the arrest order, but is another documented account to the investigation.
