Russians demand their money in Hungary’s controversial golden visa scheme

Panyi Szabolcs, Marton Kamilla 2023.03.21.

Lawyers of bondholders told Direkt36 that hundreds of thousands of euros were stuck with the intermediary company VolDan. Meanwhile, the company’s Hungarian representative office has become unavailable, and the company is under a compulsory strike off procedure from the official registry of companies.

“We need to pressure” the Hungarians – Leaked documents reveal collapse of Russian-led bank in Budapest

Panyi Szabolcs, Szabó András, Wirth Zsuzsanna, Marton Kamilla, Pethő András 2023.03.13.

Internal documents obtained by Direkt36 reveal that the Hungarian government has become one of the strongest backers of the Russian-dominated International Investment Bank, which was brought to the brink of collapse by the war against Ukraine.

Cyber companies accompanied the Israeli Prime Minister to Budapest, later one of them trained foreign intelligence officials in Hungary

Galavits Patrik 2023.02.21.

A company that sells surveillance intelligence technology accompanied Benjamin Netanyahu to his visit to Hungary in 2017. Direkt36 found out details about how later this company trained Bangladeshi secret agents in Budapest, during which they probably illegally intercepted Hungarian telephone conversations.

While former Fidesz politician rents properties to Rosatom, his son is paid for cleaning toilets

Szabó András 2023.02.02.

The company of Sándor Kovács signed contracts with the Russians building the Paks II nuclear power plant in the amount of almost 3 million euros. Direkt36’s report shows that recently his son has also been contracted by them.

Database exposes Hungarian oligarchs hiding huge fortunes

Wirth Zsuzsanna 2023.01.19.

Documents prove that pro-government businessmen actually own private equity funds that hide vast fortunes.

How Viktor Orbán decided to arm Hungary

Galavits Patrik 2023.01.10.

Hungary launched a major military development program seven years ago. The prime minister has used it to strengthen his international relationships and also realised the usefulness of the military in domestic politics.

We looked into the contracts signed by the Hungarian government with “Mr. Russia”

Szabó András 2022.12.13.

Direkt36 looked into the content of consultancy contracts that the Hungarian government signed last year with Klaus Mangold, an influential German businessman dubbed Mr. Russia for his Russian relations. These showed among others that he was entitled for a lucrative success fee in exchange for his assistance in the buy-back of the Budapest Airport.

How did Szijjártó’s futsal player friend become a top businessman?

Szőke Dániel 2022.12.06.

We have explored the business successes of Péter Szijjártó’s old colleague and teammate, and how hundreds of millions of forints of public money from the Foreign Ministry contributed to them.

Hungary’s diplomats with controversial backgrounds caught up in an investigation by international journalists

Wirth Zsuzsanna, Marton Kamilla 2022.11.15.

Direkt36 has been part of the “Shadow Diplomats” project, an investigation into the murky world of honorary consuls, led by ICIJ and ProPublica. We found that Hungary is represented by honorary consuls who are accused of crimes such as financing terrorism.

Szexuális bűnözők, drogdílerek, gyilkosok is megbújnak a világ tiszteletbeli konzuljai között

Direkt36 2022.11.15.

Az Árnyék Diplomaták nevű nyomozó újságíró projekt több mint 500, bűncselekményben vagy kétes ügyben érintett tiszteletbeli konzult számolt össze világszerte.

Russian spy chief’s son has a Budapest home address. In the company property of an old friend of Orbán’s chief of staff

Panyi Szabolcs 2022.11.10.

Official document shows that Andrey Naryshkin, who acquired residency permit in the Hungarian golden visa scheme, had his registered home address in a property owned by pro-government businessman Shabtai Michaeli’s company just a few months ago. According to the government, Naryshkin’s residency permit was revoked by the counterintelligence service two years ago, but the case was stalled in court.

Inside Viktor Orbán’s Response to the War in Ukraine

Szabó András, Panyi Szabolcs 2022.10.21.

Viktor Orbán came home from his talks with Vladimir Putin saying that he did not expect war. When it did break out, there was some wavering on the continuation of the government’s pro-Russian policy, but in the end, there was no change of direction because of the importance of Russian natural gas as well as longtime anti-Western sentiments.

A 10 legfontosabb részlet az Orbán háborús döntéseiről szóló tényfeltáró cikkből

Szabó András, Panyi Szabolcs 2022.10.21.

Mi érdekelte Putyint, amikor februárban találkozott Orbánnal? Miért látta lehetőségnek a háborút Rogán a kampányban? Miért nézi rossz szemmel az USA-t a magyar miniszterelnök? Itt vannak a nyomozásunk legizgalmasabb részletei.

The inside story of how Pegasus was brought to Hungary

Panyi Szabolcs 2022.09.28.

Direkt36 has revealed that the cyber weapon was purchased by the Hungarian state through a broker company that later became partly owned by Minister of Interior Sándor Pintér’s close confidant, László Tasnádi, who once worked for the Communist state security apparatus. The company also involved a businessman who had previous ties to the current left-wing opposition. Pegasus was considered such an expensive and top-class weapon by the intelligence agencies that it was kept secret even in internal circles.

Áron Orbán promotes both diet-food and weapons. Meanwhile, pro-government businessmen are popping up around him

Szőke Dániel 2022.09.15.

The company of the prime minister’s brother runs a shop of Norbert Schobert’s chain in Croatia. The gun shop he regularly advertises is building a shooting range on his land and has won an EU tender.

“The Russian Government Wants To See Me Dead” – says the source of the Panama Papers

Pethő András 2022.07.22.

The revelations about offshore firms brought to light by the source behind the Panama Papers toppled government leaders and spawned thousands of investigations. Now for the first time the source gave an interview.

How state funds help the miracle business of a top minister’s former wife

Szőke Dániel 2022.07.22.

We have revealed where the money comes from for Cecília Rogán-Gaál’s tabloid’s publishing house

Western allies puzzled by Hungary’s mild reaction to Russian hacking

Panyi Szabolcs 2022.07.14.

Russia’s hacking of the Hungarian foreign ministry is a concern for the EU, and the U.S. has already warned Hungary and other allies about the dangers of Russian cyberattacks. The Orbán government could in principle ask for EU help to tackle the problem, but there is no sign so far that it will do so.

“Az erőszak garantálja a sikert” – Így tarolta le a fél világot az Uber

Wirth Zsuzsanna 2022.07.11.

124 ezer belső irat szivárgott ki az Uber amerikai techóriástól, az International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) nevű nemzetközi újságíró szervezet és 180 újságíró dolgozta fel őket. Az együttműködés egyedüli magyar tagja a Direkt36 volt. Az iratok az Uber ellentmondásos belső működésébe és agresszív lobbizási gyakorlatába nyújtanak betekintést.

Leaked files of Uber reveal secret lobbying operations in Hungary

Wirth Zsuzsanna, Pethő András 2022.07.11.

As part of an international investigative project, Direkt36 has gained access to the lobbying files of Uber, the world’s most well-known ride-sharing company. These documents revealed that the US company’s representatives had access to Hungarian ministers and other decision-makers. In the end, however, the Orbán government turned out to be more afraid of upsetting Hungarian taxi drivers, and this was partly the reason why Uber was defeated, and eventually left Hungary.