RismadarVoice Reporters
November 14, 2026
Hungarian authorities have recovered nearly $20 million in cash concealed in forests, warehouses, farm buildings and residential properties during a corruption investigation involving a former minister under ex-Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.
The National Asset Recovery and Protection Office disclosed that investigators conducted coordinated searches on November 12 and 13 in Budapest and three Hungarian counties.
According to the agency, the recovered money included 5.07 billion Hungarian forints, €2.66 million and $1.26 million, with a combined estimated value of $19.5 million.
Some of the cash was reportedly buried underground in forests, while other amounts were discovered in agricultural buildings, warehouses and a concealed safe.
The agency released footage showing investigators digging at night and examining large quantities of banknotes.
Hungarian Finance Minister András Kármán said 12 treasury employees spent eight hours counting the recovered money using five counting machines.
The funds were subsequently deposited with the Hungarian State Treasury.
The investigation involves Miklós Seszták, who served as Hungary’s Minister of National Development between 2014 and 2018 under Orbán.
Seszták is suspected of receiving more than $37 million in bribes and kickbacks linked to allegedly inflated purchases of second-hand buses by a state-owned transport company and government construction projects.
He was detained in September but has denied wrongdoing.
The investigation forms part of a broader anti-corruption campaign launched by Prime Minister Péter Magyar, whose Tisza party defeated Orbán’s Fidesz party in April, ending his 16 years in power.
Reacting to the discovery, Magyar described the recovery as a significant development in efforts to investigate alleged corruption under the previous administration.
The investigations have also extended to other former government officials, including former central bank governor György Matolcsy, who faces allegations concerning the misuse of public assets.
Matolcsy has denied wrongdoing.
Orbán has criticised the investigations targeting his former administration, describing them as politically motivated attempts to force him out of public life.
Meanwhile, a survey conducted by pollster Median and published by Hungarian news outlet HVG indicated that 70 per cent of respondents considered investigations into suspected corruption under Orbán’s government very important.
Authorities have not established in court that the recovered cash represents criminal proceeds.
Investigations remain ongoing, with the suspects entitled to the presumption of innocence until proven guilty.
