Fidesz politicians believed in the forecast of Central Bank president György Matolcsy that the pandemic would only have a mild impact on the Hungarian economy, but GDP data showed a different reality.
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Inside Viktor Orbán’s slow response to the second wave of COVID19
Opposition politician profited from business deals with the Hungarian government’s inner circles. Now, the EU has identified irregularities in several of their deals
Direkt36 reported that Gergő Czeglédy, a well-connected politician from the Hungarian Socialist Party, won lucrative state contracts jointly with government-close businessmen. Now OLAF, the EU’s anti-fraud agency found irregularities in some of their deals.
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Secret battles of Orban’s rival – Budapest’s first year under opposition rule
What conflicts emerged between Gergely Karácsony and Ferenc Gyurcsány? What did Antal Rogán tell the mayor? Who are the most influential people at Budapest’s city hall? Direkt36 presents the behind-the-scenes story of the capital’s opposition leadership.
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An internal document reveals a problematic real estate transaction financed by Hungary’s state bank
According to an internal document obtained by Direkt36 the state-owned Eximbank identified several risks related to a Budapest real estate development project. Nevertheless, it decided to financially support it with a loan worth millions of euros.
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“Mr. Russia” is now helping Viktor Orbán’s government to nurture German relations
Klaus Mangold, an influential German businessman with links to the European and Russian business elites has been advising the Orbán-government for many years. His consultancy contracts obtained by Direkt36 show that Mangold has been recently focusing on deepening Hungarian-German industrial relations.
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Nuclear power plant Paks 2 rescheduled to favor the Russians
After two years of negotiations, the Hungarian government adopted during the epidemic an important legal modification related to the Paks nuclear expansion. From now on, the position of the Russians will be stronger and the Hungarian state will bear higher risks.
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People close to Orban’s advisor appear in controversial Russia-connected megaproject
Preparations for a megaproject in which a Russian-Hungarian company will supply 1300 rail cars to Egypt seem to have accelerated. Simultaneously, people close to Arpad Habony, the PM’s chief advisor, and Zsolt Hernadi, CEO of MOL have appeared inside the firm which co-owns the winning company.
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How the epidemic disrupted Orbán’s machinery
While in the past ten years the government seemed to operate with almost military-style discipline, the last few weeks brought several U-turns from the Orbán administration. Here’s what happened behind the scenes.
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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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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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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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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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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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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.
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.
Continue readingDirekt36 exposed an opposition politician’s businesses with government-linked figures. Now the EU is investigating the projects
A company of Gergo Czegledy, a local leader of the Hungarian Socialist Party in Budapest is involved in projects investigated by OLAF.
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How Orbán’s chief of staff and people close to him have used luxury cars in secret
Long-term car rental is a very expensive solution but it has the advantage of keeping the client using the car in secret. Antal Rogán and his wife, as well as the former deputy mayor of a Budapest district and former wife of Árpád Habony all used this option for several years. The car renting company has won several high-value state contracts in the past years.
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Russian-led bank rapidly gearing up in Budapest amid EU and U.S. worries
Nothing can stop the relocation of International Investment Bank, a former Soviet bank that was revived by Russian president Vladimir Putin a few years ago, to Budapest. Meanwhile, Hungary appoints a new director who has been accused of working for the Communist secret service.
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The government closed the foreign trading houses but made an exception with PM Orban’s Turkish friend
Adnan Polat knows the Prime Minister as well as his family members well. The government canceled dozens of contracts last year but his contract remained in effect.
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