“We’re celebrating, and they’re terribly jealous” – Péter Szijjártó posted this caption with a video on his social media page on September 5, 2022. The video was recorded on that day in Debrecen, where the foreign minister announced a massive investment. Szijjártó directed this sharp remark at those who had previously criticized the government’s economic strategy, known as the “Eastern Opening.”

The investment was a battery factory in Debrecen by the Chinese company Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Limited (CATL), which became one of the Orbán government’s flagship projects and was a matter close to Szijjártó’s heart. The minister went into a lot of detail about the project’s figures and emphasized that they had negotiated for two and a half years to get the Asian company to choose Debrecen.

In his speech, Szijjártó called the factory construction the largest investment ever made in Hungary, which he believes will help Hungary strengthen its struggling economy. The government has designated the CATL construction project as a priority investment and has committed nearly HUF 88 billion (EUR 227 million) toward the HUF 3000 billion (EUR 7,7 billion) project.

According to documents obtained by Direkt36, this massive, state-subsidized showcase project generated billions in revenue for a company owned by Péter Szijjártó’s longtime friend, Szilárd Benkő. Verbau Kft. secured contracts worth nearly 7 billion forints for construction work related to the factory. The work was carried out on a site near Debrecen that CATL leased from a company indirectly owned by the Hungarian state.

Direkt36 has previously covered Szilárd Benkő and his ties to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and Péter Szijjártó in several articles. We revealed that Benkő, who worked as one of Szijjártó’s closest associates until 2015 and played futsal with him, helped Fidesz’s election campaign in 2018 as a member of a team of poster vandals.

We have also discovered that one of Szilárd Benkő’s companies received nearly HUF 300 million (EUR 776.000) in non-repayable grants in 2020 from an affiliate of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. It was also during that year that the photo was taken showing Benkő traveling alongside Szijjártó aboard a luxury yacht named Lady MRD.

Benkő acquired Verbau in 2022 after the company had won a contract to build a factory in Kecskemét, a project funded by a billion-forint government grant. We also reported that the company was involved in the construction of the BMW plant in Debrecen, which was also supported by billions of forints in government funding.

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The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade responded to our questions by stating that investment companies always decide for themselves who will build their factories. Verbau did not respond to our inquiry.

Contract worth billions on public land

“Industrial gates, ramps, specialized construction, industrial flooring”—these are the construction tasks that Verbau Kft. undertook in a contract signed in the summer of 2023, according to documents obtained by Direkt36.

The documents do not specify the investment to which this work is linked, and the client is a construction company with which Verbau presumably entered into a contract as a subcontractor.

However, the work site is identified by a cadastral number, which makes it possible to know what kind of project was taking place there.

The number refers to an area near Debrecen, about which a document available for download from the city’s website provides further details. This document is an amendment to an environmental permit concerning the battery factory being built near Debrecen by the Hungarian subsidiary of the Chinese company CATL.

The document reveals that the area, which has also been identified via satellite imagery, is part of the factory site. The document also reveals that the company is renting the site for its factory from INPARK Szigma Ipari Park Kft., a company indirectly owned by the Hungarian state.

Verbau Kft. has thus been awarded a contract related to one of the government’s most prestigious projects, in an area ultimately owned by the Hungarian state.

The size of the contract is also significant. According to a document dated September 2024—just over a year after the contract was signed—a certificate of completion states that Verbau carried out work on the site in several phases, totaling more than HUF 6.7 billion (EUR 17,5 million) by that time. This report was created for the final invoice and was signed by both the ordering party and Verbau, so this amount most likely represents Verbau’s total fee for the work.

CATL’s Hungarian subsidiary and the indirectly state-owned INPARK Szigma Ipari Park responded to our inquiry by stating only that they have had no connection with Verbau Kft., either now or in the past. We did not make such a claim in our inquiry to them, nor does it result from the documents at our disposal (since Verbau received the contract not directly from them, but from a construction company).

Silently, softly

There is no mention of this large-scale project, which has been ongoing for many months, either on Verbau’s website or on the company’s social media pages, which are otherwise regularly updated. A source familiar with the company’s operations, who requested anonymity, told Direkt36 that this is not a coincidence.

“After articles were published about the state-funded projects Verbau was working on, management issued a directive that this information should not be made public. It was not to be disclosed anywhere. If journalists called, no one was allowed to say anything,” said the source.

According to the source, this is why, while the company reported on the state-subsidized Hilti construction project in Kecskemét and the BMW investment—which also received state funding—it tried to keep the work related to the CATL factory confidential.

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The source also mentioned that there were other projects linked to the government and to Péter Szijjártó personally in which Verbau Kft. was awarded contracts. One such project was the construction of a logistics warehouse in Mosonszolnok.

Although company’s website featured a photo of the construction, the page did not include any written reference to the project.

The Mosonszolnok project was the construction of a new logistics center for the Indian Motherson Group, which was inaugurated in January of this year by Péter Szijjártó together with Minister of Agriculture István Nagy. The investment was part of the group’s HUF 39 billion (EUR 101 million) development project in Hungary, and members of the government attended the inauguration because the Hungarian state provided HUF 9 billion (EUR 23 million) in funding for the project.

Although Verbau did not provide any details about the photo on its website, an employee of Motherson who requested anonymity identified the hall based on the image. In addition, a Google Street View image from the summer of 2025 shows a Verbau sign on the hall’s fence listing the construction details.

Flying revenues

We have no information on the exact amount Verbau Kft. was paid for the construction project in Mosonszolnok, nor do we know exactly what proportion of the company’s revenue comes from state-subsidized projects.

A source familiar with the company’s internal affairs commented: “There are many projects for which the company does not compete but simply receives them from the general contractor or subcontractor.”

Szilárd Benkő has been the owner of Verbau Kft. since 2022. The company’s financial indicators have skyrocketed since then, with net revenue rising from HUF 10 billion (EUR 26 million) in 2021 to 22 billion (EUR 57,5 million) in 2023 and 20 billion (EUR 52 million) in 2024.

After reaching HUF 1.5 billion (EUR 3,9 million) in 2021, the 2024 operating profit was more than three times that amount, at nearly 5.9 billion (EUR 15,4 million). Following the 2024 fiscal year, Szilárd Benkő withdrew more than HUF 3.7 billion (EUR 9,6 million) from the company in dividends.

András Pethő contributed to the making of this article.