According to a statement issued by Bertalan Havasi, Fidesz’s communications director and former press chief to ex-prime minister Viktor Orbán, investigators from the prosecution service arrived without prior notice on Tuesday at a facility hosting the party’s servers.
Investigators arrived uninvited
Havasi claimed the investigators intended to seize Fidesz’s entire communications system and databases. He described the development as unprecedented in Hungary since 1990, stating that “authoritarianism has reached a new level today”. According to Havasi, the Tisza Party had failed to defeat Fidesz through political means and was now attempting to “legally cripple” the governing party.
He added that Fidesz would not yield to either political or legal pressure and would continue to resist what he characterised as the Tisza Party’s “authoritarian” methods.
Prosecutors link operation to NKA investigation
Shortly after Havasi’s statement, the Central Investigation Prosecutor’s Office denied that its investigators were carrying out the reported procedural actions. It later emerged that the operation was instead conducted by the Bács-Kiskun County Chief Prosecutor’s Office as part of its investigation into the National Cultural Fund (NKA).
Dr. Marianna Bodó, spokesperson for the county prosecutor’s office, confirmed that an investigation is ongoing on suspicion of breach of fiduciary duty and other alleged criminal offences connected to the NKA case. She stated that the procedural measures referred to by Fidesz were carried out as part of that investigation but declined to provide further details, citing the interests of the ongoing proceedings.
The NKA investigation is linked to the wider scandal surrounding approximately HUF 17 billion (around EUR 47 million) in cultural grants allegedly distributed within Fidesz circles before the elections. The case previously led to the arrest of several individuals, including former Óbuda mayor Balázs Bús, who also served as vice-president of the National Cultural Fund.
Prime Minister Péter Magyar calls for clarification
Prime Minister Péter Magyar also reacted to Fidesz’s announcement in a Facebook post. “The Fidesz party itself has announced that investigators carried out a search and seizure today in connection with Viktor Orbán’s party’s servers. We are waiting for the prosecution service’s briefing,” he wrote.
In a follow-up comment, Magyar said the government was awaiting clarification on what case was being investigated and what, if anything, had been seized during the operation.
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Political tensions intensify
The incident is likely to further heighten political tensions between the governing Fidesz party and Prime Minister Péter Magyar’s Tisza Party.
While Fidesz portrays the investigative action as politically motivated and an attempt to weaken the party through legal means, prosecutors have maintained that the measures form part of the broader NKA corruption investigation and have not disclosed additional details about the operation. At this stage, it remains unclear whether any data or equipment belonging to Fidesz was ultimately seized.
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Why did the prosecution service wait so long before doing this. Fidesz has had far too much time to obstruct justice by deleting records. Everyone knows Szijjarto was shredding as much as he could the day after the election.