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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Orbán’s media machine in the Balkans investigated for suspicious transactions
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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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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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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This is how the mining company of Viktor Orban’s father became more profitable than its major competitors
The mining company of Viktor Orbán’s father has been involved in several major public construction projects in recent years and it has become one of the most successful companies in the market. Last year, it outperformed all of its major competitors in one important aspect: Győző Orbán’s company achieved the highest profit margin.
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A man close to Viktor Orbán’s brother was the head of a department at the tax office. His department was dissolved after we reported about it
Tamás Balogh, an acquaintance of Orbán Győző Jr. became the head of the department in charge of major procurements at the tax office, while his other acquaintance won high-value public tenders from the same authority. After we revealed their relationship, the tax authority was restructured, Balogh is not a head of department any more.
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Companies dominate public lighting in Serbia with controversial Hungarian methods
After winning public lighting tenders in Hungary, Elios, a company previously owned by the son-in-law of Hungarian PM Viktor Orbán, started expanding internationally. In Serbia, companies linked to Elios have been participating in 12 public lighting tenders, with some partners that are connected to Serbia’s political elite.
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How public money keeps flowing to Orban’s family through Hungary’s new tycoon
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban keeps repeating that he doesn’t deal with business issues. The companies of his family members, however, are benefitting from EU-funded constructions that are carried out by the business empire of Lorinc Meszaros, a friend of the PM. We explain their business relationship in a short video.
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Hungarian companies also involved in “Grand Theft Europe”, the EU’s biggest tax fraud
The shockingly high amount of 50 billion euros is robbed every year from European taxpayers through so-called VAT carousel fraud. An international investigation reveals that Hungarian companies have also been involved in criminal networks.
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How people close to Viktor Orbán’s brother became key players in major procurements of Hungary’s tax authority
An acquaintance of Orbán Győző Jr. became the head of the department in charge of major procurements at the National Tax and Customs Authority (NAV), while his other acquaintance has won high-value public tenders from the same authority. The three men know each other through wrestling.
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How we exposed some of the deepest secrets of Hungary’s controversial golden visa program
Through a residency bond scheme run by the Hungarian government, several foreigners were granted residency in spite of potentially posing serious security risks for Hungary and the European Union. Blanka Zöldi recalls how we found out about these people.
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Since the closure of Hungary’s Golden Visa Program, more foreigners receive residence permits for unclear purposes
In the past two years, over 9 thousand foreigners received residence permits for “other purposes”. Most of them came from Iran, China, the United States and Russia. Hungary’s Immigration Office Claims that that it does not have any statistical data about why exactly the applicants of such permits wish to reside in Hungary.
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Elegant flat beside the Danube and Romanian lands remained invisible in Hungarian legislator’s asset declaration
Erik Bánki said that he currently “halfway” lives in the elegant Roman Wellness Home gated community, although there is no sign of this in his asset declarations. He did not declare the flat and over 100 hectares of land in Romania because they were owned by his companies, not by him personally.
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Failed Bioethanol Project in Romania Leaves Unanswered Questions for Hungarian Legislator
Erik Bánki, a senior member of Hungary’s governing Fidesz party owns a lot of land in Hungary, but now we have also found his lands in Romania. He bought them for a huge bioethanol project, but it is unclear how he financed the purchases. According to him, various companies gave him loans, but he doesn’t remember their names.
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Hungary revoked 16 Golden Visa holders’ residence permit. It seems that the moneyman of the Syrian president and the family of Russian SVR chief were not among them
A state secretary earlier said that problematic residence permits had already been revoked. He must have referred to other people.
Continue readingMoneyman of Syria’s president received Hungarian residence permit through Russia
Atiya Khoury, who is on the US sanction list, used an address in South Moscow to apply for residence permit through Hungary’s controversial Golden Visa Program. His application was handled by a company with ties to Viktor Orbán’s advisor.
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People close to Viktor Orbán’s top advisor were involved in controversial golden visa program, confidential documents show
Documents obtained by Direkt36 prove that a Georgian-Israeli businessman close to Árpád Habony was involved in the operations of VolDan, the company that sold Hungarian residency bonds in Russia.
Continue readingMembers of Putin’s state machine received Hungarian residence permits through controversial Golden Visa program
A joint investigation of Direkt36, 444 and Novaya Gazeta about Russian parliamentary members, executives of state-owned companies, the family of the chief of Russian foreign intelligence service and a businessman reportedly linked to organised crime.
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It only took ten days for the Syrian dictator’s moneyman to get Hungarian residence permit
Hungarian authorities raised no objections against granting Atiya Khoury a Hungarian residence permit when he had already been on the US sanction list for supporting Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
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Companies formerly involved in Hungary’s Golden Visa program now advertise new visa business in Vietnam
Advertisements about Hungarian residency through real estate investment first appeared in China, now in Vietnam. This is not a state-run program, but it is partly organised by companies that were also involved in the government’s controversial residency bond program.
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