Szilárd Benkő worked for many years alongside Péter Szijjártó and also yachted with him on the Adriatic Sea. The man with a background as an instrument maker entered the construction industry a few years ago and, according to Direkt36’s research, has received state funding from the foreign ministry directly and indirectly on several occasions.

They sprayed anti-migrant slogan to Jobbik posters in the run-up of the 2018 campaign. Several people linked to the Foreign Ministry were in the group, Direkt36 revealed.

Direkt36 looked into the content of consultancy contracts that the Hungarian government signed last year with Klaus Mangold, an influential German businessman dubbed Mr. Russia for his Russian relations. These showed among others that he was entitled for a lucrative success fee in exchange for his assistance in the buy-back of the Budapest Airport.

We have explored the business successes of Péter Szijjártó’s old colleague and teammate, and how hundreds of millions of forints of public money from the Foreign Ministry contributed to them.

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.

Direkt36 presents the connection between businessman Ádám Matolcsy, the son of the issue-bank’s director, and the entrepreneur Bálint Fülöp Somlai, who also controls billionaire state tenders with exclusive photos. We also show the story of their enrichment and how their luxurious lifestyle is being helped by state businesses.

As Direkt36 exposed controversial expenditures at a publicly funded think tank ran by the son of a former PM, several officials decided to leave.

The think tank ran by Péter Antall has received lucrative support from Viktor Orbán’s government. Direkt36 has obtained internal documents about the organization’s lavish spending.

During the reconstruction of the Buda Hospital, archaeological finds from Roman times were unearthed. Civil engineering works were done by the same company that will be responsible for groundworks related to the Paks nuclear power plant expansion.

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.