Hungary saw great business opportunities in Iran and the Orban government tried to strenghten relations through university scholarships and residence permits. Then the course of world politics and the coronavirus changed everything.
Continue readingHow once cherished Iranians became coronavirus scapegoats in Orban’s Hungary
After 15 years of constant reorganization, Hungarian epidemiology was hit hard by coronavirus
Socialist governments crippled the network of state laboratories, Fidesz cut the epidemiologists’ central institution into pieces before trying to reverse the restructuring. Hungarian epidemiology struggles with the pandemic in a weakened state.
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God sent this investment. Or the Devil
Tricksters from a Kyiv-based call center have defrauded vulnerable people from all around the world, luring them with empty promises of profitable investments. Direkt36 has found several Hungarian victims who talk about the psychology of the online fraud machine and what hurts the most.
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Businessman linked to the Orbán family has expanded his footprint in city of Hungary’s nuclear plant
Roland Sebestyén has business relations with the family of Anikó Lévai, the wife of PM Viktor Orbán. Companies linked to him received contracts in the value of 6.2 million euros in Paks.
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„Sold her home to pay, no money, crying”
More than a thousand victims from over 50 countries of the world, among them dozens of Hungarians, were ripped off by sales managers of a company in Ukraine where the boss is known as the ‘Wolf of Kyiv’. The lucrative business was uncovered by an international investigation in which Direkt36 took part from Hungary.
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Orbán’s media machine in the Balkans investigated for suspicious transactions
A Hungarian businessman close to the government has expanded his media empire to the Balkans. However, a high-value contract between his Slovenian and North Macedonian companies raised the attention of local authorities.
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Hungary pressured by diplomats to stop blocking NATO-Ukraine talks
There is growing pressure on Hungary’s government to stop blocking high-level Ukraine-NATO meetings. They are accused of doing a favor to Russia, while Hungary says “we’re not blocking just for fun”.
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Hungarians could live 5 months longer, but government halts program tackling air pollution
Pollution from fine particulate matter is very high in Hungary, among the worst in the EU and the OECD. The government is aware, a solution has been prepared, but the plans were eventually halted.
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U.S. is still trying to push out the Russian-led bank from Hungary
American and British diplomacy are upset that the International Investment Bank has relocated its headquarters to Budapest. The bank’s employees were supposed to receive wide diplomatic immunities, but the Orban government seems to be backtracking on issuing them.
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Companies close to Orbán’s allies will operate Hungarian trading houses in the Balkan
The Hungarian government started to rebuild its controversial trading house system on the Balkans – once again, with the old local partners that have good political connections.
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How Viktor Orban got involved in Trump’s Ukraine scandal
Several influential U.S. government officials have stated in recent weeks that Viktor Orban was inciting Donald Trump against Ukraine. However, reality is more complex and there are tough diplomatic battles being fought in the background.
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Links tighten between Orbán’s brother and a businessman who keeps winning public tenders
Gábor Szentgyörgyi has a common business with the son-in-law of the prime minister’s brother, and one of his business interests opened a branch on a property owned by a company of the Orbán family.
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Hungary’s government is quietly neck-deep in the U.S.-Huawei war
The Trump administration is nervous about the good relationship between the Orban government and Huawei. The Chinese giant has been involved in several Hungarian state developments in recent years, and their devices have even emerged with Hungarian security agencies.
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Viktor Orban promised something to Vladimir Putin, but the U.S. intervened
Hungary’s government promised diplomatic immunities to the Russian-led, now Budapest-based International Investment Bank, but U.S. diplomacy had concerns over the bank’s alleged ties to Russian intelligence.
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The Russians are poised to benefit from international deal financed by Hungary
In addition to the Russians, several government-close people are also watching closely the project developments. The business partner of Árpád Habony has appeared in the company that signed the contract. The investment is likely to come up at the Orbán-Putin meeting.
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How the alliance with Israel has reshaped the politics of Viktor Orban
Direkt36 tells the story of how the Hungarian and Israeli Right slowly found each other through the relationship of Viktor Orban and Benjamin Netanyahu.
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MP of Hungary’s strongest opposition party has ties to the government’s controversial trading house business
Opposition MP Lajos Olah has been dealing with China for quite a while. He is so successful that even Hungarian foreign minister Peter Szijjarto can also be regularly seen with him. And one of Olah’s acquaintances operates a Chinese trading house for 70 thousand euros monthly.
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Nuclear tender that caused tension between Hungary and Russia will restart
All bidders for the almost 300 million euros public tender were disqualified.
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Both Russian arms dealers Hungary extradited to Moscow instead of the U.S. now set free
Vladimir Lyubishin Sr. was released after a Moscow court hearing. The arms dealer was arrested in a joint operation by Hungarian and U.S. authorities, but Hungary’s government extradited him to Russia. According to his lawyer, Lyubishin is very happy and can’t wait to travel somewhere with a spa and sauna.
Continue readingRussians wanting a massive Paks 2 nuclear contract eventually got pushed out
The tender for one of the most important parts of the Paks nuclear power plant was published. It concerns the control system responsible for its safe operation. According to Direkt36 this caused a big conflict between the Hungarian and Russian parties.
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