All posts by Pethő András

Inside the crisis of the Hungarian opposition

Galavits Patrik, Szőke Dániel, Szabó András, Pethő András 2023.09.18.

The opposition parties that suffered a crushing defeat in 2022 are busy gaining positions in favor of each other instead of weakening the power of Fidesz.

“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.

“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.

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.

Inside the opposition’s crushing defeat against Viktor Orbán

Panyi Szabolcs, Pethő András, Szabó András, Matyasovszki Fanni, Szőke Dániel 2022.05.17.

The chaos was even bigger inside the campaign than it looked from the outside. Direkt36 has investigated how the opposition, which led in the polls last fall, lost against Viktor Orbán’s governing party yet again.

A tíz legmeghökkentőbb dolog, ami az ellenzéki kampányban történt

Pethő András 2022.05.17.

Számos új részletet tártunk fel az ellenzéki választási kampányról. Kigyűjtöttük a legérdekesebbeket.

Inside Viktor Orbán’s war for Index, Hungary’s most influential news website

Pethő András 2022.03.18.

Index had long been a primary target for Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s media crackdown. The final assault came in the disguise of a business maneuver and now the site is part of the government’s powerful media machinery.

Another Pegasus target with political ties: a lawyer who oversees elections and worked for opposition party Jobbik

Pethő András, Szabó András 2022.01.27.

László Vértesy was targeted in the fall of 2018 when he was still the owner and director of an institute that had helped opposition party Jobbik in the last parliamentary election campaign.

Orbán’s ally told Hungarian intelligence services that opposition is the greatest national security threat, leaked recording reveals

Pethő András 2021.11.27.

Direkt36 has obtained a recording of the speech that Speaker of the Parliament László Kövér gave in February 2020 to the leaders of Hungary’s national security leadership. He told them that he has great trust in them that they will deal with the danger the opposition means to Hungary.

Senior official in Socialist governments had an offshore company, Pandora Papers reveal

Pethő András, Zöldi Blanka 2021.11.04.

Jenő Faller told Direkt36 that when he founded the offshore company it was a “fashionable” thing to do.

Entrepreneur enriched by state tenders starts a new business on the Orbáns’ family land

Zöldi Blanka, Pethő András 2021.10.07.

Gábor Szentgyörgyi, a wrestling acquaintance of Viktor Orbán’s brother, has so far been a big winner in state tenders with his IT group, but now he is starting a plastic business on the Orbán-family’s estates.

Tax changes under Viktor Orbán turned Hungary into a tax planning tool

Pethő András, Zöldi Blanka 2021.10.05.

The offshore leaks known as the Pandora Papers show that Hungay has been promoted to service providers as the new Cyprus or Malta. A lawyer wrote that Hungary can give an “onfshore face” to offshore companies.

Prominent business allies of Viktor Orbán’s government had secret offshore businesses, Pandora Papers reveal

Pethő András, Zöldi Blanka 2021.10.04.

Nearly 12 million confidential documents were leaked about secret offshore companies, investigated by the world’s largest international collaboration of journalists. Direkt36 was also part of the project and revealed that influential Hungarian pro-government figures including Balázs Kertész and Gellért Jászai also had offshore interests.

He has been uncovering the lavish lifestyle of Viktor Orbán’s circles. This summer, he was surveilled with Pegasus spyware

Panyi Szabolcs, Pethő András 2021.09.21.

Photographer-journalist Dániel Németh has spent years investigating and documenting the luxury lifestyle of Hungary’s ruling elite, following them with his camera as they travelled around Europe. This time, however, someone was watching him too.

Anti-Orbán news site’s publisher came under surveillance when his contract with an opposition party was revealed

Panyi Szabolcs, Pethő András 2021.09.13.

Páva’s smartphone was hacked with the cyberweapon developed by Israeli company NSO on March 16, the very day when it became public information that opposition party Democratic Coalition signed a contract with his company for social media consulting.

Hungarian opposition publisher was surveilled with Pegasus in spring 2021

Pethő András 2021.09.08.

Previous reporting showed that Pegasus was used against Hungarian targets in 2018 and 2019. Now there is evidence that Zoltán Páva, a former politician who is a news publisher now, was under surveillance in March and May this year.

Hungarian journalist reporting on corruption surveilled with Pegasus for months

Panyi Szabolcs, Pethő András 2021.08.02.

During her surveillance, Brigitta Csikász, one of Hungary’s most experienced crime reporters, wrote about the misuse of EU funds among other topics. Csikász’s investigations revealed that, despite the alarms of the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF), Hungarian authorities lacked either the will or the ability to prosecute the suspicious spending of EU money.

State Secretary who disagreed with a Hungarian cabinet member over Paks nuclear power plant targeted by Pegasus spyware

Szabó András, Pethő András 2021.07.24.

Attila Aszódi became a target shortly before his dismissal in 2019 at a time when he had several conflicts with the Hungarian cabinet member supervising Paks 2. The State Secretary disagreed with the measures that would have benefitted the Russian party building the new nuclear power plant and would have changed the original timetable of the project.

President of the Hungarian Bar Association and several other lawyers have been targeted by Pegasus

Panyi Szabolcs, Pethő András 2021.07.20.

Professional secrecy does not seem to protect lawyers from becoming targets of surveillance. Bánáti was targeted during a famous murder case, while another lawyer became the target at the time when he wanted to run against the Fidesz mayor of a small town during the last municipal elections.

Hungarian journalists and critics of Orbán were targeted with Pegasus, a powerful Israeli cyberweapon

Panyi Szabolcs, Pethő András 2021.07.19.

An international investigation has found that Pegasus has been abused by countries around the world. Hungarian targets include media company owner Zoltán Varga and people connected to him, Lajos Simicska’s son and lawyer, as well as several investigative journalists.