Prime Minister Péter Magyar has said that former Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s brother, Áron Orbán, was detained on suspicion of human smuggling, citing press reports. However, authorities have not yet confirmed his alleged detention or the specific grounds for it.
The announcement came on Monday, after the National Asset Recovery and Protection Office (NVVH) and the National Bureau of Investigation (NNI) carried out a joint operation in Budapest and two locations in Pest County. According to the authorities, several people were detained, and searches were conducted at multiple properties as part of two parallel criminal investigations. Further details were expected later in the day.
Magyar made the claim in a Facebook post, but did not provide further information. The Kontroll news site reported that Áron Orbán could be among those affected by the operation. The NVVH’s president, Anna Róza Unger, declined to confirm or deny reports that counter-terrorism officers had visited a property in Fótliget linked to one of Áron Orbán’s companies. She told Telex that the office had carried out further investigative measures in the case involving him and would provide more information later.
The investigation into alleged visa dealings
Áron Orbán’s name had previously emerged in an investigation into suspected abuses involving work-related residence permits for foreign nationals. According to earlier reporting by Telex, business interests linked to him may have helped Vietnamese applicants travel to Hungary. His company, Multi Shoot Zrt., reportedly enrolled Vietnamese applicants in a two-day life-saving course at the University of Pécs, which could have helped them obtain Schengen visas. The report also said that Áron Orbán had approached a government commissioner to help speed up certain visa applications.
In September, the NVVH announced that it had taken over the investigation. According to the office’s account of the suspicion, a group closely connected to senior political figures allegedly offered to secure work-related residence permits for clients in exchange for payment. The office said the case concerned suspected influence peddling and other offences.
In April, the Central Investigative Prosecutor’s Office reported that four people had been questioned as suspects in a related case involving the recruitment and employment of foreign workers. Two were taken into custody, with a court subsequently ordering their pre-trial detention for one month. Prosecutors said the suspects had allegedly invoked trusted connections with influential public officials while promising to arrange residence permits smoothly. They were accused of dividing €17,000 received in advance from a business owner.
The NVVH’s September announcement described the wider investigation as examining whether people with political connections had used their relationships to obtain preferential treatment in official procedures.
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Viktor Orbán: I’m the target; my brother’s just a pawn
“Today, the government is due to answer to the National Security Committee regarding the spy scandal. This ‘settling of scores’ is a diversionary tactic. What is happening in Hungary is not accountability, but a settling of scores. Whenever the government faces something embarrassing, the ÁVH steps in. In this dirty game, the aim is to eliminate political opponents and establish a one-party system. I am the target; my brother is merely a pawn,” Viktor Orbán reacted on Facebook.
